Oh Cousin, My Cousin
by EdgeColumbus
Summary: Robin Branwen. A Huntsman who has suffered the greatest loss any Huntsman could go through, the loss of his team. Join Robin as he watches out for his cousins and their friends, comes to terms with his loss, goes on missions and develops as a person. Will he reclaim the once peaceful days he loved, or will his darker side get the best of him?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: See you there

"Nice work kid, those next two years will be a breeze." Robin complimented. Robin Branwen was a twenty-one year male with brown hair and a red patch, his red eyes stood out slightly. Robin wore a white dress shirt with a black blazer with the sleeves rolled up and the cuffs folded back, he also wore a pair of blue jeans and black and white high-tops, he wore a loose black necktie with cross pin in the middle.

"You think so?" Ruby asked.

"I know so, I'm sure my old man would say the same thing." Robin responded.

"Well uncle Qrow did teach me how to use a scythe, after you taught me how to make one." Ruby reminded. Robin thought back to Ruby's first year at Signal, Ruby had really wanted to learn how to use a scythe like her uncle and cousin.

"Yeah, that took a less time than I expected it would. You really are a natural kid." Robin smiled. "Crescent Rose is definitely one of the strongest weapons I've ever seen."

"Senbonzakura is just as strong." Ruby commented, she looked to the katana that was on Robin's waist.

"You've only seen me fight with it in katana form." Robin stated.

"I'm sure the scythe form is just as strong." Ruby persisted. Robin took a sip of alcohol from his flask before speaking.

"Come on, let's head back. I don't need uncle Tai beating me up for getting you back late, especially since getting back to Beacon will be difficult if I can't move." Robin half joked, there was a hint of fear in his voice.

"Okay." Ruby said, somewhat disappointed by the end of the training.

* * *

It was sundown by the time they got back to Taiyang's house.

"Ah, you're back." Taiyang said as Ruby and Robin walked in.

"Yep, I decided that I would like to keep my legs intact." Robin joked.

"Smart decision." Taiyang joked back. Robin went to the guest room he was staying in to finish packing his bags. "You do realise you can stay tomorrow as well." Taiyang stated.

"I know, but I get a day off since I don't need to be at Beacon until Initiation day, I want to check up on a few things." Robin replied. "Besides, I'm sure Yang would appreciate having someone see her off to Beacon." Robin added.

"Right. Anyway, I'm about start making dinner."

"Got it."

* * *

Robin had made it to Vale faster than expected, his flight had gone early for once. Robin was walking about somewhat aimlessly, he was looking for someone. Robin decided to try going to the hotel the person was staying at, the receptionist pointed him in the right direction. Robin knocked on the door.

"Just a second." An energetic voice called. Robin waited for about thirty seconds before the door opened, a familiar blonde opened the door. "Oh, I didn't know you were back in Vale Robin." Yang said, she was surprised by her cousins sudden visit.

"I thought you might want someone to see you off tomorrow, since I have a few more days off... I thought 'why not'." Robin explained. "Is it okay if I stay here tonight?"

"Yeah, sure." Yang answered. Robin set his suitcases down next to one of the beds, he could tell which one to use since Yang's had the covers almost completely off the bed. "Get into any trouble lately?"

"No." Yang whistled as she headed for the door.

"I saw the remains of the night club." Robin smirked, Yang stopped and turned around.

"I didn't start it this time." Yang defended, this received a questioning look. "Okay, so I did, but..." Yang started before being cut off.

"I don't need to hear your defence, I'm not going to tell uncle Tai. Just... stop looking for trouble, please." Robin interjected. "Now then, I believe you were going somewhere?"

"Oh, right. I'll be back later." Yang waved as she left. Robin took a shower and got dressed in his usual outfit, he sat on the balcony and drank from his flask.

'What to do.' Robin thought to himself, he lost track of time whilst thinking and day quickly turned to night. 'I've been out here for too long.' Robin had lit a cigarette and was leaning on the rail, he heard the ringtone for his scroll go off. It was a message from Ozpin.

-Meet me at the Vale city police department.

"You could at least tell me why." Robin sighed.

* * *

"She what!?" Robin yelled.

"She fought off a group of criminals and pursued their presumed leader, Glynda stepped in to help her and is talking to her right now." Ozpin replied.

"And we're definitely talking about Ruby, you sure you don't mean Yang?" Robin questioned.

"I'm sure, see for yourself." Ozpin answered as he gestured to the window on the door. Robin looked through the window and sure enough, Ruby was getting scolded by Glynda.

"Oh god, Tai's gonna kill me."

"I'm sure he won't, especially after he hears the news." Ozpin chuckled as he took a sip of his coffee.

"News?"

"I'm going to extend an invitation to Beacon to Ms. Rose." Ozpin elaborated.

"It's her dream to go there, she'll say yes without a second thought." Robin smiled. Ozpin entered the room and placed a plate of cookies on the table.

"Ruby Rose... you have silver eyes." Ozpin stated. "Tell me, where did you learn to do this?" Ozpin asked as he showed Ruby a screen with previous fight on it.

"Signal academy." Ruby responded.

"They taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?" Ozpin questioned.

"Well, one teacher and his son." Ruby replied.

"It's just that I've only seen two other scythe wielders of that skill before, a dusty old crow and a sprightly red robin." Ozpin stated, Robin smirked at the comment. Ruby tried to reply, but had stuffed her face full of cookies and had ended up spewing gibberish. Ruby finished the cookies and tried again.

"Sorry." Ruby apologised. "That's my uncle Qrow and cousin Robin, I was complete garbage before they took me under their wing. My cousin taught me how to build and do maintenance on a scythe and my uncle taught me how to fight, Now I'm all like 'hoooo chaaaa'" Ruby explained, Robin began to smile as he reminisced.

"So I've noticed." Ozpin replied as he put his coffee mug down. "And what is an adorable young girl like yourself, doing at a school designed to train warriors?" He asked.

"Well... I want to be a huntress." Ruby fidgeted.

"You want to slay monsters?" Ozpin questioned.

"Yeah, I only have two more years of training left at signal and then I'm going to apply too Beacon. See my sister starts there this year and she's trying to become a huntress and I want to become a huntress because I want to help people, my parents always said to help others so I though why not. I mean, the police are awesome, but hunters and huntresses are just so much more romantic, cool and exciting." Ruby replied, there was a silence in the room. Robin started to drink from his flask.

"Do you know who I am?" Ozpin asked, breaking the silence.

"You're Professor Ozpin, the headmaster at Beacon" Ruby answered.

'Everyone in Vale knows that.' Robin thought as he rolled his eyes at the question.

"Hello." Ozpin greeted.

"Nice to meet you." Ruby replied.

"You want to come to my school?" Ozpin asked.

"More than anything." Ruby responded.

"Well okay." Ozpin said, Ruby's face lit up with joy.

"I told ya she'd say yes Oz." Robin smirked as he walked into the room, he put his flask in his blazer pocket.

"Robin!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Hey there Rubes." Robin smiled, the smile gave off an aura of anger. "You idiot!" Robin shouted as he gently hit Ruby on the head, it still hurt. "Do you have any idea how worried I was when Ozpin told me that my cousin had been arrested! I was expecting to see Yang, not you!" The shouting continued. "I'm glad you're alright." Robin sighed as he gave his cousin a hug, he pulled away with a smile on his face. "Looks like I'll be seeing you at Beacon, kid."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Old Friend?

"I'm so happy that my little sis gets to attend Beacon with me!" Yang exclaimed as she bear hugged Ruby.

"She'll be attending the hospital if ya don't let her go." Robin joked, Yang let go of Ruby.

"I'm happy to be going with you to Yang." Ruby said between breaths.

"Robin, you were sixteen when you entered Beacon weren't you?" Yang asked.

"Yep, which means Ruby is now the youngest student to enter Beacon since she's fifteen."

"Yay, I'm better than you." Ruby squealed as Robin looked away, there was a silence before Robin spoke.

"You two have everything you need, right?" Robin asked.

"Yep." Ruby and Yang replied in unison.

"Good, you two should head to your designated carrier." Robin instructed.

"What about you?" Ruby asked.

"I still have today off, I won't be heading to Beacon till sometime after Oz's speech." Robin answered.

"Oh, well we'll see you later then." Ruby waved good bye as she and Yang headed to one of the carriers. Robin started to walk through the crowd, he wanted to find somewhere he could smoke.

"And you have all the necessary dust crystals?" A familiar voice asked. Robin headed in the direction of the voice, he saw a familiar woman and an unfamiliar teenage girl.

"Yes, I have prepared three cases of dust, each containing an even amount of every type of dust crystal." Replied an unfamiliar voice.

"Good, you'll be a fine huntress Weiss." The familiar voice commented.

"Thank you, Winter." Weiss responded as she stepped on the carrier. Winter started to walk off.

"So you have a younger sister." Robin stated as he caught up to Winter.

"Oh, you're here." Winter replied.

"Yep, I just saw my cousins off." Robin smirked, he knew his presence annoyed Winter. "You're not still mad that I won that duel against you right?" Robin asked.

"It was a draw." Winter deadpanned.

"That it was. Though if we take the Schnee family pride into account, that means that a draw is still a loss for you." Robin taunted.

"I'm not going to fight you." Winter said.

"Because you don't want to lose?"

"Shall we move on from this conversation?"

"Fine." Robin whined. As Robin and Winter approached the docks, Robin lit a cigarette and started to smoke. "So, how has everything been?" Robin asked seriously.

"Well, though my father was not amused when Weiss told him that she wanted to be a huntress." Winter admitted.

"Yeah, I'm guessing he made her go through some kind of trial."

"He did, though Weiss made quick work of it. That said, she left herself open too many times."

"As strict as ever, you could replace Ironwood and no one would be able to tell the difference." Robin joked.

"As funny as ever." Winter replied in a monotone voice.

"So how has the military been treating ya?"

"Everything has been going perfectly."

"And that's all I'm going to get, the rest is classified." Robin smiled. "We should talk more."

"Yes, because I have nothing better to do with my time." Winter said sarcastically.

"All right ice queen, it was just a suggestion." Robin chuckled, he could feel Winter's gaze piercing into him. 'It's too easy to get under your skin' Robin thought.

"How about you, how have you been?" Winter asked, Robin was caught off guard by the question.

"I'm fine." Robin answered. "My old man has been off doing jobs for Ozpin, he was happy to hear that my younger cousin got into Beacon." Robin explained.

"How old is she?"

"Fifteen, her sister is seventeen. The younger sister actually got in a year earlier than I did. The two of them will do great, I just know it."

"Your cousin got in two years early?" Winter questioned.

"Yep, Ozpin's personal invitation."

"She would still be no match for Weiss." Winter scoffed. As if on cue, Winter's scroll buzzed. "Apparently there's been an explosion in the courtyard." Winter said. "Some girl sneezed and it triggered the dust, Weiss was probably waving it about like a fool though."

"Ruby's probably the girl in question." Robin smiled nervously.

"Who?"

"My younger cousin, the one who got in two years early." Robin explained. "Glad to see she's making friends." He joked.

"I would be thankful if she did become friends with Weiss." Winter admitted.

"I'd be thankful if Ruby could make a friend, she's a bit socially awkward." Robin sighed. Robin and Winter continued to walk for a bit, they eventually stopped by a Bullhead.

"You didn't have to walk me here." Winter said.

"Consider it a thank you." Robin smiled.

"For what?"

"For being a good friend." Robin explained as he stubbed out his cigarette.

"Since when were we friends?" Winter questioned.

"Owch, that's cold." Robin joked. Winter got in the bullhead while Robin waved her goodbye. 'I should head to my reserved bullhead.' Robin thought.

The flight was longer than the one from Patch to Vale, Robin had fallen asleep and was woken up by the landing. Robin headed towards Ozpin's office.

"Hey there Oz, good to see you Glynda." Robin greeted as he stepped off the elevator, he was drinking from his flask.

"You're as bad as your father." Glynda scolded, she was referring to how Qrow was usually drunk.

"Not true. I... give me a second... okay, no, you're right." Robin responded.

"Perhaps we can discuss Robin's drinking habits later." Ozpin cut in. "For now, how about a game of chess."

"Alright" Robin sat down and looked over the chessboard. "You go first Oz."

"Very well." Ozpin moved one of his knights, Robin's response was to move one of his pawns. Ozpin moved the same knight again, Robin moved a different pawn. The game of chess continued for a while. "Checkmate." Ozpin said.

"Congrats, you beat me Oz." Robin congratulated. "Now what was the reason behind this?"

"As perceptive as ever. Look over the board." Ozpin instructed. Robin looked over the board and noticed he had more pieces, he had been aiming to lose as few pieces as possible.

"I have more pieces."

"Correct, you chose not to sacrifice any of your pieces. You tried to beat me while keeping all of your pieces." Ozpin stated.

"Yep. So even though I lost, it's only because of the rules of the game. If we consider this realistically, then the overall victory is mine. You lost more people, most of mine are still alive."

"Why do you think I challenged you to a game of chess?" Ozpin asked after taking a sip of his coffee.

"You wanted to test me. If I'm going to be a teacher here, I need to put the students first. If anything happens, the students are first priority... Is the immediate conclusion, but this is about Amber. You're reminding me that I'm part of a group that's responsible for protecting the Fall maiden, Amber needs to be protected." Robin explained.

"Exactly. When Qrow showed you the condition Amber is in, he showed you the truth. A truth which cannot be told to anyone else." Ozpin reminded.

"Right. Anyway, should we start talking about my job?" Robin asked.

"Yes. You will be assisting Glynda with the combat training classes, though you will be teaching while Glynda assesses your performance." Ozpin explained.

"Got it, are you okay with this Glynda?"

"It is fine with me."

"That is all, we have preparations to make for tomorrow. You can head to your room. And no, it is not the one from when you were a student here. I have sent for Professor Port to show to your room."

Robin followed Port to his new room.

"These are your new lodgings as a teacher here at Beacon." Port explained as he stopped outside of a room at the end of the hall."

"Isn't this in the student dorms though?" Robin questioned.

"Why yes it is, you have been assigned as the guardian for the dorms."

"Got it."

"I'll let you get settled in, see you later." Port said as he left. Robin entered the room and looked around.

"Well then, here's to the beginning." Robin smiled.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: What it's like

"No, you will be implementing your own landing strategy." Ozpin answered Jaune's question as Jaune was launched into the air.

"So this is what it's like for teachers on initiation day. You're a demon Oz." Robin stated.

"If I remember correctly, you were perfectly fine with being launched."

"I had a plan, he did not." Robin pointed at Jaune, who was spinning towards the emerald forest.

"Mr. Arc shall be fine." Ozpin assured as he handed Robin a scroll with a live feed of four students.

"Ruby Rose, Yang Xiaolong, Pyrrha Nikos and Lie Ren." Robin read out. "So these are the students I'm monitoring for this morning?"

"That is correct."

"I'll tell you if anyone dies." Robin half joked, the possibility was there. Ruby was running through the forest, Yang seemed to be taking her time, Pyrrha was heading for Jaune since she used her spear to stop him from splattering on the ground, Ren was fighting a King Taijitu. Ruby had run into Weiss and they were walking through the forest, Weiss seemed displeased with having Ruby as her partner. 'Winter's sister, you're in for a difficult time Rubes.' Robin thought. Yang was fighting two Ursa's, one of them managed to pull a small lock of hair out. 'Oh god' Robin winced as the first Ursa got completely destroyed, the second Ursa was taken out by another girl wearing black. Robin looked at Ozpin and Glynda's scrolls, he memorised the students names. 'So Yang is partnered with Blake Belladonna, so that means both my cousins are paired up with someone already. Good luck you two.' Robin looked over his scroll again, Ren was paired with Nora Valkyrie and Pyrrha was paired with Jaune. Everyone was getting closer to the temple, though Ruby and Weiss were looking up at something. Robin lit a cigarette and started smoking, he could tell that Glynda was glaring at him. "My aura stops the damage that smoking would cause, the same goes for the damage alcohol can cause. It's why me and my old man drink so much and why I choose to smoke." Robin explained.

"It's a bad example." Glynda reputed.

"Says the one who almost whipped my cousin with her riding crop." Robin shot back, the conversation ended there. Robin sat on the cliff edge, he noticed a Nevermore flying about and looked down at his scroll. Ruby and Weiss were riding on the Nevermore. 'Winter's gonna kill me... and then uncle Tai will kill me.' Robin broke out into a cold sweat, it got worse when Ruby jumped and left Weiss on the Nevermore. 'I had a good run.' Robin thought as he mulled over what he was going to write in his will. Everyone had reached the forest temple, even Weiss who had been caught by Jaune... before they plummeted to the ground. Jaune landed first and Weiss landed on his back. Pyrrha had reached the temple while being chased by a Deathstalker. 'Impressive.' The group of eight managed to get a breather in when they trapped the Deathstalker and Nevermore, not before Ruby almost got killed and only survived thanks to Weiss.

"It seems that all pairs have claimed a relic." Ozpin pointed out.

"They just have to make it back." Robin sighed.

"You seem worried." Glynda noted.

"I'm watching my cousins and their prospective teammates almost die and I can't do anything to help, forgive me if I'm worried about having to deliver condolences to two people who will kill me." Robin snapped.

"Two people?" Glynda asked.

"Taiyang Xiaolong and Winter Schnee, they will kill me." Robin explained.

"Then you might want to look at the scroll I gave you." Ozpin said. Robin looked at the scroll, the Deathstalker was dead and Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang were fighting the Nevermore.

"Come on guys, you can do this." Robin cheered. Ruby had been launched towards the Nevermore and was running up the side of a cliff with the grimm stuck on Crescent Rose, Ruby took the Nevemore's head off and landed on the top of the cliff. "Well done guys, well done." Robin congratulated.

"And finally, Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee and Yang Xiao long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces, from this day forth you will work as team RWBY. Led by Ruby Rose." Ozpin stated. A round of applause resounded in the hall like it had for the other teams.

"Congrats Rubes, you did well kid." Robin whispered as he left the hall, he got his scroll out and sent a message to Qrow.

-Ruby has her team, it consists of herself(obviously), Weiss Schnee(I hope Winter will be proud of her), Blake Belladonna and Yang, so the sisters got to be on the same team in the end. Oh, Ruby is the leader by the way.

Robin received a reply not too long after.

-Congratulate the kid for me, It's good to know she has her sister with her. How are the three of you?

-I'd say we're all fine, what about you? Been defeated by the length of any more skirts?

-Haha, very funny kid. I'm fine, just doing another mission for Oz.

-Good to hear, speak to you soon.

"You could have called."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Two birds, one stone

Teams RWBY and JNPR came barrelling into the room, needless to say they tripped over each other and ended up in a pile.

"That's one way to make an entrance." Robin chuckled, he had been having a chat with Professor Port before the interruption. "Well, it's about time for me to go, see ya later Port." Robin waved as he left the room. It didn't take long for Robin to run into Glynda, which he wasn't happy about.

"Good morning Mr. Branwen." Glynda greeted.

"It's Professor now, I prefer being called by my first name, and good morning Glynda." Robin greeted with a forced smile.

"Very well then Robin, is there anywhere you're heading to in particular?" Glynda asked.

"Not really no." Robin responded.

"I see, could I ask for your assistance in carrying some files to Ozpin's office?"

"I don't see any reason to say no." Robin mumbled as he took three quarters of a floating pile of files.

"You don't need to carry that many." Glynda told him.

"You're using your semblance, it's draining the more your carrying and the more use it. So actually, I do need to carry so many." Robin sighed, Glynda smiled at the act of kindness. "You're smiling... who's the unlucky victim?" Robin joked as he headed towards Ozpin's office.

* * *

"Here ya go." Robin said as he placed the files on Ozpin's desk, the smaller pile floated on to the table.

"Thank you, both of you." Ozpin thanked. Glynda left the room to work on some preparations for tomorrow's combat training lesson.

"Can I ask you something Oz?" Robin asked between sips from his flask.

"What do you need Robin?"

"Have you heard anything from my dad?" Robin asked, some concern in his voice. "We messaged each other yesterday after initiation, but I was wondering how his mission was going." Robin added.

"Qrow sent in a report yesterday after the initiation, he's made some progress." Ozpin answered.

"He would make more progress if he wasn't constantly getting drunk." Robin stated as he downed more from his flask.

"That is true, but I can't say you're much better in that regard." Ozpin smiled, Robin stopped drinking and looked at Ozpin.

"You can thank my old man for this habit, I think it's become hereditary." Robin sighed.

"And the smoking?" Ozpin inquired.

"That one... that one is my fault." Robin admitted.

"Anyway, we both have work to do. I believe you have a class to prepare ready for tomorrow?"

"Right." Robin grinned nervously. "Later Oz." Robin waved as he stepped onto the elevator. The ride was peaceful as usual, but something was off.

* * *

Robin walked into the courtyard. 'Am I being watched?' Robin thought, he looked around and couldn't see anyone. Robin walked towards a secluded area of the courtyard, no one there. "Is anyone here!?" Robin yelled, he looked around and saw it. "Of course it's you." Robin whispered to himself, there was a raven sitting on the wall. "I know you're there... Aunt Raven." Robin turned around and sure enough, there she was.

"You noticed." Raven stated.

"You didn't make it easy." Robin replied.

"You weren't supposed to notice."

"I know. So, is it okay if I tell Yang that I saw you today?" Robin inquired, only to met with a katana pressed against his neck. "So that's a no then." Robin answered his own question. "Why are you here?" Robin asked.

"To speak to you." Raven answered as she sheathed her katana, something triggered inside Robin.

"To speak to me!" Robin shouted. "You don't speak to your own daughter in years, no, ever... and the first time I see you in years you want to speak to me and disregard Yang!" Robin placed his hand on the hilt of his katana. "You don't understand how you leaving impacted her do you? She may have been young, but learning that your mother left after giving birth to you is hard for a child to bear." Robin wasn't shouting anymore, but his anger hadn't subsided.

"Robin, I understand that you want to voice your anger. I won't make an excuse for what I did, but I do want you to listen to what I have to say." Raven responded, calm as ever.

"Fine." Robin seethed.

"I want to test your abilities in combat." Raven stated as she drew her katana. That was the last straw. Raven wanted to test his combat abilities, she had nothing else to say other than a declaration of a fight. Robin drew his katana and ran at Raven, he slashed at her, but the attack was blocked. Robin kept up a flurry of swings, he was enraged. Raven hadn't even wanted to talk about Yang, her own daughter. No "How is she?" or "Is she having fun?" just a damned declaration for a fight. Robin feigned his next attack by aiming for Raven's arm and shifting to strike her mask, the mask cut in two and Raven was unscathed.

"Ha! I actually landed a damn hit." Robin laughed.

"Qrow taught you well, no wonder he speaks highly of you." Raven admitted.

"So you still speak with him, but uncle Tai and Yang don't get a word. Not even a letter." Robin snapped. The mechanism in his katana sprang to life, the blades segment started to curve and a pole shot out from the hilt. For the first time in ages, Robin was using his scythe. Robin swung the scythe around in a flurry of fluid motions, Raven managed to block and dodge all of them. "Why? Why, after all these years, is it that you challenge me to a fight and disregard your daughter?" Robin panted. Raven said nothing in response, she slashed at Robin's right arm. Robin caught the blade in the curve of his scythe. "I may be out of breath, but I'm not out of anger." Robin flung Ravens katana into the air, she didn't let go and brought the blade down on Robins left shoulder. Robin jumped back after taking the hit, he could tell his running low.

"We'll stop there." Raven declared.

"What... after all that, you're just gonna stop?" Robin wheezed.

"You can't handle anymore. Now will you listen to what I want to say?" Raven asked.

"Fine." Robin answered as he sat down, he pulled out a cigarette and lit it.

"There is a matter I need your assistance with." Raven stated.

"Get on with it." Robin sighed as the smoke escaped his mouth.

"I want you to help me investigate an old mining site."

"Why?" Robin questioned.

"Because Qrow is working for Ozpin and I need someone to assist me with this investigation." Raven admitted.

"When do want to start investigating?" Robin asked. "I've got a class to teach tomorrow and I'm going to need to rest after that fight." He added.

"We can begin at the weekend, meet me here at five in the morning." Raven commanded as she made a portal and walked through it, the portal closed shortly after. Robin stood up and walked off, he stubbed out the cigarette as he entered the cafeteria.

* * *

"Robin! Over here!" Yang called out. Robin made his way over to his cousins and their team, team JNPR was sitting with them. Robin sat next to Yang. "Why do you seem so beat up?" Yang asked.

"Oh...Uh... I was training." Robin lied, he didn't want Yang to know about his meeting with Raven.

"You seem completely exhausted." Ruby pointed out.

"It was a long training session." Robin continued with the lie. "So, judging by the amount of people at this table... I assume Ruby's actually made friends." Robin attempted to change the subject.

"Hey!" Ruby yelled.

"What? Am I wrong?" Robin asked with a devilish smile.

"No, they are my friends." Ruby replied.

"Can I have some introductions?" Robin asked.

"Aren't you a teacher? Shouldn't you know the our names already?" Weiss asked.

"That's true, I do know all your names by the way. But I think as Ruby and Yang's cousin, I should get to know their friends." Robin admitted. "Or does that not meet your standards, oh benevolent Weiss Schnee." Robin mocked.

"Excuse me?" Weiss asked, not amused by what Robin added at the end.

"You really are Winters sister, which means I know all the right buttons to push and all the ways to get under your skin." Robin smiled.

"You know my sister?"

"We go way back, I fought her once. It was a very challenging fight, it ended in a draw so by Schnee standards Winter lost." Robin reminisced.

"As if someone like you has a chance against my sister!" Weiss exclaimed.

"I'm a teacher here for a reason, you can ask Winter about the fight." Robins smile was ever present while he spoke. "So, what about the rest of you?"

"I'm Blake, I'm Yang's partner." Blake introduced.

"Ah, yes. Blake Belladonna, thank you for putting up with my cousins. I know from experience that they can be a handful." Robin acknowledged, this got a resounding "Hey!" from Ruby and Yang.

"I'm Jaune Arc, I lead team JNPR. It's nice to meet you sir." Jaune introduced himself.

"Nice to meet you too Jaune. And please, just call me Robin." Robin replied.

"Hello. I'm Pyrrha Nikos, I'm on the same team as Jaune. It's nice to meet you." Pyrrha introduced.

"Hello Pyrrha, I've read through your file. I can promise you that you will not receive any form of special treatment." Robin greeted sternly, he leaned closer to Pyrrha. "It's horrible when your put on a podium isn't?" Robin asked in a whisper, he had a sympathetic tone in his voice. "So, who's next?"

"Me, I'm Nora. I've been friends with Ren since we were kids and we enrolled together and were lucky enough to be partners." Nora introduced herself and partially introduced Ren.

"It's nice to meet you." Robin replied with a nervous smile, the fast pace that Nora had when speaking would take some getting used to. "I assume you've gotten used to her hyperactive?" Robin asked Ren.

"Yes... She means well, but she can be a handful." Ren replied.

"Well it's been nice speaking to you all, but I've gotta go finish preparing tomorrows lesson." Robin smiled as he placed a cigarette in his mouth, he was going to light once he got outside. Yang decided to follow him though.

"Were you really training earlier?" Yang asked, this was going to be difficult to avoid.

"Of course I was, I've got stay in top form." Robin answered. Yang still didn't seem to believe him.

"Are you telling the truth?" Yang asked, the questions weren't going to stop anytime soon.

"I'm telling you the truth, I have no reason to lie to you. Yang, you're my oldest cousin and I care about you and Ruby. So trust me when I say I'm training, I just want make sure I have the strength to protect those I care about." Robin replied. He wasn't lying about how he cared about his cousins, but it hurt that he had to use that as cover.

"Alright, I believe you." Yang sighed.

"Good. Now where has my energetic cousin gone, she's usually smiling and being cheery." Robin smiled, he noticed a smile on Yang's face and received a light punch to the side.

"She's right here." Yang laughed with her usual smile. "See ya around Robin." Yang waved as she went back to the cafeteria.

'Sorry Yang, I can't tell you about my chat with Raven.' Robin thought as he solemnly looked at the ground, he placed his hand on his neck where Raven had pressed her katana. 'There better be a good reason behind this Raven, I won't lie to her again.'

* * *

 **So yeah, Raven appeared in this chapter. Robin has decided to help Raven and has to lie to Yang, he's not happy about it. The next chapter will revolve around Robin teaching the first combat training lesson, the chapter after that will be Robin and Raven investigating the mining site. See ya'll later.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Teach me tell me

Everyone had taken their seats for the combat training lesson, Robin had yet to arrive. The doors slammed open as Robin staggered in, he took his place in the arena and looked up at the stands.

"Hello class, I am Professor Robin Branwen and you will call me Robin if you don't want to lose your hands." Robin introduced, he was drunk. "Now then... I have a hangover, can anyone tell me what this means?" Robin asked, Glynda glared at him.

"It means you're drunk!" A student called out from the back, Robin smirked.

"No! It means I was drunk yesterday, although I am drunk." Robin explained.

"Why would you come to class drunk?" Another student asked.

"Because I'm a huntsman." Robin replied, this earned some murmurs from the students. "Sometimes things don't go right on the job, sometimes pain can too hard to deal with on your own. That's why I'm drunk, to numb the pain. Now the point of this class is to ensure you have the proper combat skills, this class is to ensure you don't end up like me." Robin explained as he pointed to himself. "For this first class, we will do a series of tournament style duels. If your aura reaches the red, the fight is over and you lose. The same goes for if you wind up unconscious." Robin continued, sobering up slightly. "Will... Weiss Schnee and Blake Belladonna please step into the arena." Robin instructed. Weiss and Blake walked down to the arena and took up their combat stances. "And... begin."

Weiss and Blake went for an attack at the same time, Weiss' attack missed as Blake dodged by using a shadow clone. Blake went for the next attack and just hit Weiss by a hairs breadth, Weiss used a glyph to trap Blake's leg in ice. Weiss managed to land three hits before Blake broke free and dodged out of the way, the two locked blades a few times before jumping away from each other. The duel continued with a fairly rhythmic pattern, Blake would land a hit or two, Weiss would a trio of attacks and the distance themselves from each other.

"Enough!" Robin called, the duel ended with the auras fairly close. "Weiss, I'm afraid you lost." Robin informed. "The victory goes to Blake, it was an excellent and close fight you two." Robin congratulated. "However, it seems we don't have time for another duel. We'll continue with this form of training next time. For your first assignment from my class, please review pages one to twenty of the combat training manual. That is all, class dismissed." Robin ended the lesson, he leant against the wall as the students left.

"You did satisfactory for your first lesson." Glynda reported. "Though I must ask, why did you bring up the reason for your drinking habits?" Glynda asked.

"So that they know that just because they're the protectors of the world, it doesn't mean they're excused from hardship." Robin explained.

"It sounded like you were talking from experience." Glynda commented.

"I was." Robin said bluntly. "I've been through the greatest loss a huntsman can go through, losing their team." Robin added, he left the room with his flask at his lips.

* * *

Robin had just started wondering around the courtyard when his scroll buzzed, it was a call from Qrow. Robin quickly answered.

"Hello." Robin greeted.

"Hey kid, I wanted to ask how your first lesson as a teacher went?" Qrow asked.

"It went satisfactory according to Glynda." Robin informed. "I'm sure she still has it out for me from when I was a student."

"Well, you did pull a few pranks." Qrow laughed.

"They were harmless... mostly." Robin chuckled awkwardly.

"Yeah, well that's an emphasis on 'mostly'" Qrow retorted.

"I... uh... I agreed to help Aunt Raven with a mission at the weekend." Robin informed as he braced himself for what his father might say.

"I see. So she contacted you, huh?" Qrow said dryly.

"Yeah, I may have yelled at her a bit, but she just let me vent. It was like she didn't care." Robin winced as he remembered how much he yelled.

"My sister can be a bit difficult to understand, I'm surprised she spoke to you at all really." Qrow let out a small laugh.

"Apparently I was her second choice since you were on a mission for Ozpin." Robin said.

"That's understandable, you are the next strongest in the family." Qrow cheered.

"I just wish that I could've talked her into speaking to Yang." Robin sighed.

"You're a teacher, not a miracle worker." Qrow reminded. "So, what's this mission my sister roped you into?" Qrow inquired.

"We're investigating an old mining site." Robin Remembered.

"I see, well I'll let you go now. Got my own mission to finish up." Qrow said as he hung up. Robin looked at his scroll and sighed.

"Since when did you actually care about work."

"There you are!" A familiar voice called out, Robin turned around and was greeted by the sight of team RWBY walking towards him.

"Oh, hey. What do you need?" Robin asked.

"We were wondering about what you said in class, about the pain you can suffer as huntsman." Ruby responded.

"Oh, that. I was talking about the fact that you should be prepared for things to go sour at a seconds notice, everything can be going and then something happens and you lose your whole team." Robin grimaced, he put on an obviously fake smile. The team had sad looks on their faces. "I still remember my time as a student here." Robin started. "I was so nervous when I first arrived, I was a year younger than everyone else. I met my partner during initiation and we were fast friends, we then met the rest of our team during the assembly that followed initiation. Team RDNT (radiant) was a team of misfits with me as the leader, we were a magnet for trouble." Robin laughed as he remembered his days with his team, team RWBY seemed to have perked up a bit. "Dusk shade was my partner and best friend, he always knew how to bring a smile to someone's face. Nettle Greene was the guy that knew everything, you could always talk to him if you had a problem. And then there was Tear Azul, she was the voice of reason and my... girlfriend." Robin paused as the memories came back. "When we graduated, we were so happy to have become proper huntsmen. We went on our first proper mission a few days later, there were a lot of grimm and we were doing perfectly fine. Then we were overrun, the grimm got stronger and stronger, we realised that we had bit off more than we could chew. I shouldn't have accepted that mission, the others sacrificed themselves to make an opening for me to escape. I ran, I ran and ran and ran. I never looked back, never thought of continuing the fight. When I got back to Patch, something inside of me broke." Robin had begun to tear up. "Dad and uncle Tai thought that I needed some time to myself, Ruby and Yang had a different idea. They wouldn't leave me alone, they dragged me around wherever they went." Robin was smiling through the tears, the smile turned to a frown as a certain memory popped up. "Then one day, a pack of beowolves pinned them down when they had left their weapons at home. I always carried my weapon on me, but I was so scared that the people that were close to me would get hurt again that I froze. Then something snapped into place, I drew my katana and fought the pack. There was thirty of them, twenty seven regulars and three alphas, I told Yang and Ruby to go get help. I was expecting to die, but I managed to win. The scythe form of my weapon is the only reason I'm still here. Thing is, this was one of the rare occasions were the grimm bled. I was caked in blood by the time that Ruby and Yang returned with my dad and Uncle Tai, I remember that the first thing I said was 'I'm back'. You know, the reason I have this red patch in my hair is because of a comment Ruby made. I had a patch of blood in my hair that Ruby called cool, so I started dying that part of my hair." Robin had a calm smile stretching across his face. "These two are the best people to be around if you need some cheering up." Robin added as he ruffled Ruby's hair and gave Yang a pat on shoulder, he walked off with a look of contempt on his face.

* * *

 **Hopefully the next time I write a class scene I'll do a better job. Why did I bring up Robins past and his team? So that his reason for becoming a teacher and being protective of his family was established. See ya in the next chapter.**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Delving deeper

Robin was waiting at the secluded area where he fought Raven, it was dead on five. A portal opened in front of Robin and Raven stepped out, she gestured for him to follow her through the portal. Once he stepped out of the portal, Robin was greeted by a rundown residential area with the sun beating down.

"Sun, sand, buildings, is this a mining facility or a beach town?" Robin asked, half jokingly.

"The miners had to bring their families with them." Raven explained.

"That's a lot of miners and a lot of families, this place could be consider a small city." Robin said as he analysed the decrepit buildings. "If the buildings are in this condition, how long has been since this place in operation?" Robin asked as he ran his hand along a wall.

"Two months." Raven stated.

"That doesn't make any sense. If it's only been a couple of months then the buildings wouldn't be in this state, something's been eating away at these buildings." Robin analysed.

* * *

Robin and Raven kept walking until they reached the entrance of the mine.

"This is what we're here to investigate." Raven said as she stared at the entrance.

"Anything to look out for in particular?" Robin questioned, he hadn't been told anything about the mission besides that it was an investigation.

"Files, recordings, samples, survivors if there are any, but mostly any form of information on the facility." Raven answered.

"Good to know." Robin replied as headed into the mine, Raven walked by his side. The two kept their hands on the hilt of their weapons. The first area they came across was a metal room with a door on the left and right, there was no sign of recent human activity.

"You take the right, I'll take the left. Use your scroll to contact me." Raven ordered as she and Robin passed on each other's contact info. Robin headed through the door on the right and kept an eye out for any information or survivors, there were a bunch of branching tunnels and that was about it.

* * *

"Guess I'll have to explore these tunnels one by one." Robin groaned. The first tunnel had a bunch of equipment littered about, no sign of any people.

The second tunnel had a locker room, the equipment was littered about the floor with very little in the actual lockers. One of the lockers had a diary inside.

"Let's see what we have." Robin opened the diary and read a few pages. "We've been left down here for at least a month, we probably won't last another. Especially not with..." Blood covered the rest of the page, the rest of the diary was torn and bloodstained. "With what? Was something down here? Or did someone go crazy and attack?" Robin asked himself.

The next six tunnels offered little else. The last tunnel split into even more tunnels, there was a sickly stench in the air.

'It's one of those days, with one of those missions.' Robin thought as he headed down the first tunnel.

The first noticeable thing were... bodies, dead and decaying bodies. 'That explains the smell.' Robin rooted through the pockets of the bodies. "Nothing personal, just need to know what you found out." Robin found a bloodstained knife on one of the bodies. "So either you went crazy or you were attacked, but by a person or something else?" Robin wondered, some of the bodies had "scratches" on them. Robin continued to the next tunnel.

There was a scuffling noise echoing through the tunnel. "Probably a something." Robin whispered to himself. More bodies... shirtless bodies? 'Why would you take your shirt off in a mine? And why do have a smile like that on your face?' The bodies in this tunnel were smiling and shirtless, some even had their trousers down slightly. 'Why were you getting undressed?' There was a not next to one of the bodies.

"They show us what we want to see, they tell us what we want to hear. They're only illusions, or are they? I can't tell anymore." The rest of the note was a scribble, the writer must have been attacked judging by the spots of blood. 'What are 'they'? How can they show you illusions? Just what did you find? There are too many questions and not enough answers.' There was more noise.

"Who's there!" Robin yelled, wasn't the smartest idea considering the location.

"Robin?" A shockingly familiar voice asked, then she came into view. Light blue hair, light blue eyes, a dark blue hoodie covering a light blue T-shirt, dark blue jeans and blue sneakers.

"Tear?" Robin gasped.

* * *

Nothing, Raven had found nothing so far.

'Maybe Robin's found something by now.' Raven thought, she came across what seemed like a storage room. Crates full of dirt, only dirt. 'Why only dirt?' There was an adjoining room, it looked like the main office. File cabinets, those were a good sign. There were very few intact files, one of the files was labelled 'Mimic'.

"This grimm is the size of a large rat with numerous tentacles for its legs. It can show its victim anything and anyone from their memory, not much else is known." These 'Mimics' most likely resided inside the tunnels.

"We're in danger here." Raven realised, she needed to find Robin. Raven ran out of the office and saw... Qrow?

"Whoa there, what's the rush?" Qrow asked. Raven cut the person in front of her in half, it turned into a creature that fit the description from the file. Raven kept running back the way she came, she reached the room where she had split up with Robin. Raven tried to get a call through, Robin wasn't picking up. This was bad.

* * *

"Tear? What are you... How are you here?" Robin asked.

"Because it was your fault." Tear replied with devilish grin.

"What?" Robin was taken aback by the words.

"It's your fault, you left me to die. You left us ALL to die. You ran like a coward, like always." Tear kept up the barrage of blame. Robin collapsed to the ground, he sat up while clutching his head. The tears began to form. "Why didn't you stay and fight? Why didn't you die along with us? How is it that you got to survive?" More blame, it wasn't stopping.

* * *

"What?" Echoed down the tunnel.

'He must down there.' Raven headed down the tunnel in front of her. There Robin was, a Mimic inching closer. Raven stabbed her katana into the Mimic, it screeched and began to dissipate. "Robin, are you okay?" Raven asked. Robin was sitting there, clutching his head and crying.

"It's my fault... It's all my fault." Robin kept repeating. Raven had watched over Robin from time to time, but she had never seen him in a state like this. No, there was the time after Robin lost his team. Raven slapped Robin across the face.

* * *

There was a stinging sensation on Robin's left cheek.

"What the..?" Robin looked up and saw Raven looming above him. Raven was standing exactly where Tear had been.

"Are you back?" Raven asked. Robin got up slowly, he wiped away the tears that had formed.

"I'm... I've been better." Robin solemnly laughed, he had a sorrowful look in his eyes. "What happened?" Robin inquired. "Tear was here and she... reminded me of what happened. It's ironic really, I tell Yang, Ruby and the rest of their team about what happened to my team and act like I'm over it. But when faced with the past... I broke down." Robin frowned. "I'm glad I didn't end up like before. I don't need my cousins worrying about me like that again, I won't let them be endangered by my problems again." Robin smiled with resolve.

"Good, now let's leave. More Mimics will try and trick us, stay on your guard." Raven warned. The two headed back towards the entrance, the mimics tried to stop them. There were illusions of relatives, friends... some other things.

"They're getting desperate." Robin smiled as he wiped the blood from his nose. "Illusion or not, I never thought I'd see her like that." Robin asked as the blush wasn't leaving his face.

"Who did you see?" Raven asked. The blush on Robin's face got brighter.

"A friend... A friend who, considering their position, I wouldn't expect that from." Robin explained as he pressed on.

"It was Winter Schnee wasn't it." Raven deadpanned, Robin stopped in his tracks and turned around.

"Never speak of it." Robin threatened, the embarrassed look on his face betrayed the threat.

Robin was caked in dirt and blood, some of the Mimics were rare cases of grimm that actually bled, Raven was practically untouched. "Even though I modelled my weapon after your katana and gave it the ability to turn into a scythe, making it a tricky weapon to use, you can fight flawlessly without taking a hit." Robin complained. "How much do I have to beg for you to teach me?" Robin asked.

"I will not teach you, you fight just fine." Raven declared as she continued towards the entrance.

'I wonder how normal families bond, 'cause this sure isn't how.' Robin thought, he jogged up to Raven and continued heading for the entrance. The mine started to shake, screeching was echoing all throughout the mine. "They're gonna stampede us." Robin realised as a mass of tentacles and eyes came barrelling into view. "Run!" Robin shouted, as he and Raven sped up to reach the entrance. They made it out, but the Mimics could still be heard. "We need to seal the up the entrance!"

"Stand back." Raven commanded as she changed the blade of her katana, Robin did as he was told and stepped back. Raven drew her katana and slashed at the air, a line of fire smashed into the top of the mine entrance and exploded. The entrance collapsed and sealed the Mimics inside.

"So, that was a mission." Robin rubbed his temples.

"Did you find anything while down there?" Raven asked, completely unphased by what had happened.

"Nothing that would help with explaining what happened." Robin sighed. "Honestly, I'd say we let what we found down there stay down there." Robin laughed lightly, he got out a cigarette and started smoking.

"I will agree with you on that." Raven agreed. Raven opened a portal. "That portal will take you back to Beacon." Raven explained.

"Thanks. If you ever need help with another mission, just ask." Robin offered.

"I'll keep that in mind." Raven replied, Robin stepped through the portal while waving goodbye.

* * *

The portal took Robin to same location at Beacon that he left from, the secluded area in the right corner of the courtyard near the gate.

"Well, that's enough family bonding for one day." Robin sighed as he ran his hand through his hair.

"Robin, there you are!" Yang exclaimed as she ran up to him. "Why are you covered in blood and dirt?" Yang asked.

"I just got back from a mission." Robin answered honestly.

"Oh? How did it go?" Yang continued with the questions.

"Fine, could've gone better... Much better." Robin sighed. The rest of team RWBY saw Yang and Robin talking and ran over to them.

"Why are you covered in blood and dirt?" Blake inquired.

"Mission." Robin answered, this was getting tiring.

"Did you do the mission solo or with someone's help." Ruby questioned.

"Solo." Robin stated. 'Can't let Yang know I was with her mother.'

"What was the most exciting part?" Ruby had stars in her eyes. Robin went a bit red in the face as he remembered what one of the Mimics had shown him.

'Weiss is here so I'm not bringing that up.' Robin thought. "I'll tell you all about tomorrow Ruby, right now though... I need to shower and enjoy a nice long sleep." Robin smiled as he walked off.

* * *

Once he got back to his room, Robin showered, got changed into a T-shirt and sweats and flopped onto his bed. Robin thought back to what the Mimic showed him, Robin's face went red again.

"Oh god, I need to put that outta my head." Robin mumbled as he placed his hand over his heart. "Winter..."

* * *

 **So... that was a thing, Robin seems to have come to a realization about his feelings towards a certain someone. See ya all in the next chapter.**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Blanc Robin

Robin had been trying to get to sleep for the past two hours, he couldn't. He was tired after the mission with Raven earlier, yet he couldn't get any sleep. Robin had been sleeping almost fully clothed, he pulled his blazer on and tied up his shoes.

"A walk might help." Robin mumbled to himself, he started by doing a round of the dorms. Robin proceeded to walk around the school, he eventually wound up in the courtyard.

* * *

There was a rustling sound nearby, no one should be outside this late. Robin walked towards where the rustling had come from, he was standing near a line of bushes when the rustling was at its loudest. Robin knelt down and noticed someone, a young girl in a simple plain white dress, a young girl with white hair and red eyes.

'Is she albino?' Robin thought. "Uh... hey there." Robin greeted, he was trying to sound friendly. "Are you okay?" Robin asked the girl. The girl looked Robin in the eyes, a bright smile spread across her face as she tackled Robin into a hug, a hug that knocked Robin to the floor.

"Daddy!" The girl exclaimed. Robin sat in silence as he processed what he had just heard.

"Huh?" Robin asked, he was confused, very confused.

"I found you daddy, I found you." The girl smiled.

"I'm sorry, I think you have the wrong person." Robin apologised. The girl pulled out a picture, she pointed at the man in the picture.

"Nuh-uh, they said this was daddy. You look just like him, so you're daddy." The girl explained in a fittingly childish way. The man in the picture was definitely Robin, it was a picture from a few months ago considering Robin looked the same as he does now.

"Okay then, how old are you by the way?" Robin asked.

"Nine!" The girl replied cheerfully. Robin would have been twelve when this girl was born then, but he would have been at Signal at the time. This girls existence was contradictory to Robins memory, there had to be more to this. Right now though, he would have to play the part and look after the girl.

"Do you have a name?" Robin asked, the girls smile turned to a frown.

"No, they never gave me a name." The girl replied. Robin gave the girl a pitiful look.

"Alright then, from now on your name is Blanc." Robin decided. The girls smile instantly returned as she gave Robin a big hug.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you." Blanc thanked repeatedly, Robin couldn't help but smile.

"All right, there's someone we need to go see." Robin explained as he got up, he held Blanc's hand as they walked.

* * *

"And you've come to me to ask if she can stay?" Ozpin questioned. Robin had decided to talk to Ozpin about what had happened tonight.

"That's the gist of it." Robin nodded.

"You do realise this isn't a safe place for children?" Ozpin asked.

"Yep." Robin nodded.

"And you won't let up on the matter will you?"

"Nope" Robin shook his head.

"Very well, I will let the staff know." Ozpin stated.

"Thank you Oz."

"You said that she mentioned 'they', who are they?" Ozpin asked.

"I don't know, I haven't asked." Robin admitted. "I will ask her, but for now I think she needs time." Robin added as he looked at Blanc, she was looking out the window.

"She looks like you." Ozpin pointed out.

"I know, I feel sorry for her in that regard." Robin joked. "In all seriousness though, the fact that she has a resemblance to me is worrying. I have a theory that she might have been created by mixing my DNA with someone else's." Robin explained, a serious and slightly worried look on his face. "But I am happy to have child though." He smiled.

"Blanc also looks like Winter." Ozpin commented as he casually took a sip of his coffee, the blush returned to Robins face.

"Oz... Stop... please, I thought the same and we don't need to talk about this further." Robin said, embarrassment spread across his face.

"Even though Winter would be a key part to your DNA theory." Ozpin had adopted a small smile.

"Yes, that and..." Robin started.

"And you love her." Ozpin stated as he casually took a sip of his coffee again, Robin shrank in his seat.

"Yes, I do." Robin whispered.

"I wish you luck." Ozpin smiled, Robin perked up after hearing this.

"Thank you sir." Robin stood up and headed towards the elevator. "Blanc, we're going now." Robin called in a soft voice, Blanc ran up to him and the two got on the elevator.

* * *

"Well, this is the room you'll be staying in from now on." Robin said as he entered his room. Blanc ran in and looked around, she seemed to grasp the layout of the room easily and already knew what everything was and what to and not to do.

'I know nine year olds can be smart, but has the intelligence of a pre-teen at least. Coupled with the childishness of a nine year old and it's obvious she's related to me, the knowledge of social rules and an already developing moral code would make her relatable to Winter.' Robin got lost in thought as he tried to figure out why Blanc would have been created, if his theory was correct. Robin began to think about a future with Winter, which led to him thinking about how he had to tell Winter that they, technically, had a child.

'I'll be making a trip to Atlas soon then.' Robin sighed mentally as he thought about his chances of surviving his trip to Atlas. 'Well I had a good run.'

"Daddy look!" Blanc called as she pointed at the closet, Robin looked at the closet and noticed that there was a bunch of clothes and pyjamas for Blanc.

"Wow, Oz earns more and more of my respect every day." Robin chuckled lightly. "Blanc, you get changed in here, I'll go get changed in the bathroom." Robin said as he entered the bathroom.

After they both got changed, Robin and Blanc got into bed. Blanc decided that she would stay close to Robin, Robin just smiled as the paternal instincts set in.

'I will protect you with all I have.' Robin silently promised as he softly kissed Blancs forehead.

* * *

Surprisingly, teams RWBY and JNPR handled the sudden appearance of Robins child well. Ruby, Yang and Weiss were shocked initially, Blake was indifferent, though the twitch from her bow said otherwise, Jaune asked how, and got the answer of 'I'm not telling', Pyrrha just seemed to accept the fact that there was a child on campus, Nora was much the same as Pyrrha although a 'bit' more excitable, and Ren congratulated Robin.

"Just don't tell anyone without my say so." Robin instructed. "Anyway, can you all keep her occupied for a bit?" Robin asked.

"Sure, but why?" Pyrrha questioned.

"I need to speak to Ozpin about taking leave to go to Atlas." Robin responded.

"What do you need to go to Atlas for?" Weiss inquired.

"I have a friend that I need to speak to, she just so happens to be your sister by the way." Robin smiled.

"You're going to see Winter? Can you give her a letter for me?" Weiss requested.

"Yeah sure, I'm going to try to take leave at the same time as the Forever Fall trip so give me the letter before then." Robin accepted the request.

* * *

One week later:

"Alright Cardin, that's enough!" Robin shouted as he stopped the match. Cardin had an easy victory against Jaune. "Jaune, I would recommend checking your aura during battle, it is what separates you from the Grimms dinner." Robin scolded. "Alright, as you all know, the Vytal festival is inching closer and closer. I would recommend that, if you plan to participate, you should train regularly. Remember, we are expecting great things from all of you." Robin reminded.

After the students left, Glynda walked up to Robin.

"You've improved." Glynda stated.

"Three lessons a week will do that." Robin smiled as he took a small sip from his flask.

"You're drinking and smoking has cut down slightly." Glynda pointed out.

"You can thank Blanc for that, I don't want her to pick up these habits." Robin explained with a smile.

"That girl is a godsend." Glynda joked.

"Well she is daddy's little snow angel." Robin laughed as he told Glynda Blanc's nickname.

"You really are a parent." Glynda laughed.

"Surprising, I know." Robin joked. "Anyway, I've got a trip to Atlas to prepare for. See ya." Robin waved goodbye as he jogged out of the room.

* * *

 **Yes, I have introduced a child to the plot, Robins child at that. Blanc will play a part in the story, but that's all your getting from me.**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Proposal

Robin and Blanc stepped off of the bullhead, the two set of for Schnee manor. They were greeted by, to Robin, a familiar man.

"Good morning Klein." Robin greeted, Klein smiled and waved.

"Good morning Robin." Klein greeted back. "Might I ask why you're here?"

"I kinda need to talk to Winter." Robin rubbed the back of his head.

"Winter is in the garden, I believe she's training." Klein informed.

"Alright, thanks." Robin walked off with Blanc by his side. They eventually reached the garden and sure enough, Winter was training. Robin sat on a low wall with Blanc in his lap. Winter eventually finished training, she then noticed a pair of onlookers.

"It's rare for you to visit." Winter stated as she walked over.

"I have a few reasons to be here." Robin shrugged. It was at this point that Blanc hopped off of Robins lap and hugged Winters leg.

"Mommy!" Blanc exclaimed. Winter seemed shocked, which was rare.

"Robin... what is the meaning of this?" Winter asked, Robin picked his next words carefully.

"Well... this girl believes that we are her parents." Robin explained. "I found her a week ago and she recognized me immediately, she even had a photo of me with her." The explanation continued. "Ozpin even said that she resembles us, and the fact that she recognizes you as her mother..." Robin trailed off, thought overtaking his speech. A moment of silence passed. "Something's happening or happened behind the scenes, I need the Schnee Dust Companies help." Robin admitted.

"I would offer resources to you, but..." Winter started.

"Your dad is in control of everything... and he hates me." Robin cut in, he rubbed his temple before standing up. "Well you know one of the reasons why I'm here now." Robin sighed.

"And the other?" Winter questioned. Robins face went slightly red, he hadn't even taken a sip of whiskey yet, he knelt down on the ground and reached into his pocket.

"Winter..." Robin began, he pulled out a small box and opened it. "Will you marry me?" He asked, face redder than ever before. Winter looked at Robin in... amazement? She clearly hadn't expected a proposal, especially considering the man proposing was Robin.

"Yes." Winter replied, Robins face brightened up like the sun. "You may be the most annoying man I know, but yes." Winter smiled, a smile crossed Robins face as he let out a small laugh. Winter took the ring and placed it on her left ring finger. "You realise we have to tell my father about this." Winter deadpanned. Any trace of happiness left Robins face.

"Way to ruin the moment..." He mumbled as Blanc looked between the two.

* * *

"No." Jacques refused. Robin, Winter and Blanc had gone to Jacques study to ask for his permission.

"Well that was what I expected." Robin half joked.

"Father please." Winter argued.

"My decision is final." Jacques stated.

"Oh is it now?" Robin asked sarcastically, he wasn't going to try and be nice. "'Cause, last I checked, the two getting married make the decision. Approval or not." An annoyed smile took its place on Robins face.

"That's a thin line you're standing at, boy." Jacques spat.

"Standing at? I thought I'd walked past it by now?" Robin shot back, Winter and Blanc had taken a seat at this point. "I know you don't like me, I know that I can be insufferable. But I'm holding all the cards in this argument." Robin stated.

"Oh, how so?" Jacques inquired.

"Because I have some information that you really don't want to be released. Trust me, I didn't want to have to play this card." Robin smiled evilly.

"What information? There have been lies and slander centred around my company for years. What could you possibly have?"

"Official records." Robin said flatly. This got a reaction, Winter took Blanc out of the room now.

"How could you have any official records on my company?" Jacques scoffed, he emphasised the 'you' and 'me' to remind Robin of their standings. Robin pulled out his scroll and tapped a small file labelled 'incriminating evidence'.

"Bribery, breaking the rules of the Faunus Labour Laws, child labour, and the list goes on." Robin stated as he scrolled through the file.

"That proves nothing!" Jacques shouted, Robin had gained the upper hand.

'Just a few more steps.' Robin thought. "While this proves nothing. I'm certain that top level access to some secret Schnee Dust Company files will back all of this up." Robin shrugged.

"There is no way you gained access to top level files." Jacques stated.

"Then what do you call this?" Robin asked as he showed Jacques his scroll, the screen read 'SDC CEO level clearance'.

"How did you...?" Jacques trailed off.

"In a kingdom where technology is the forefront of practically everything... there are a surprising number of holes, especially if you know what you're looking for." Robin explained.

"Very well, you have my permission to marry my daughter." Jacques gave in.

"Thank you." Robin bowed. "Just remember, I am the key to your downfall and... that I never wanted to do this." Robin had a smug half smile at the start of that sentence, it shifted to a sorrowful expression as he left.

"How did it go?" Winter asked, Robin smiled as he picked up Blanc.

"We're getting married." Robin smiled, a small smile crossed Winters lips.

"M-marr..ied?" Blanc asked, she didn't know the word yet. Robins smile brightened.

"Married is a word associated with marriage, and marriage is a vow between two people who love each other." Robin explained, it might have been more confusing though.

"And you're a teacher." Winter joked. "I'll tell you when you're older." Winter said as she patted Blanc on the head, this resulted in a smile from each member of the family. That was the first day the family spent together.

* * *

 **A/N: I had to wait a week to write this chapter. Why? Because episode 2 of volume 4 was good for reference. Robin and Winter won't be holding a reception, by the next chapter they've filled out the marriage registration and submitted it, a reception just wouldn't fit in with where we are in the story. Robins time in Atlas will be spent with family and doing other stuff, he will miss the events that end volume 1 and be back shortly before volume 2 starts, the next few chapters will take place over the course of a week. See ya next time.**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Family day

"Hmmm... it could be the gears... maybe I should oil the joints... or should I take it apart and reconstruct it while keeping an eye out for problems?" Robin mumbled as he inspected Senbonzakura at a desk.

Weapon maintenece, this early in the day?" Winter asked, Robin smiled as his spouse walked over to him.

"Well a weapon that rattles when rattling wasn't a design feature is cause for concern." Robin half joked as he placed the goggles that were resting on his forehead on the desk, he rubbed his temple and let out a long sigh. "This is the first time this has happened." Robin admitted.

"Have you been overworking it?" Winter inquired.

"I haven't properly used Senbonzakura in a few weeks, I might have over used it a bit..." Robin trailed off as he remembered the mission with Raven, he also remembered two other things, one of which he wouldn't mention and the other that he had promised to deliver. Robin pulled a letter out from his blazer pocket and handed it to Winter.

"A letter?" Winter asked.

"From your dear little sister." Robin smiled as he went back to looking over Senbonzakura, he reached a conclusion. "I need parts and a workshop." Robin sighed as he rested his forehead on the desk, Winter had sat down on the bed to read Weiss's letter.

"Hmmhmm." Winter chuckled.

"Read something amusing?" Robin asked.

"Just Weiss's opinion of you." Winter responded.

"Can't wait to hear it." Robin groaned as he ran prices through his head, it would be more cost efficient to wait until he's back at Beacon.

"Robin is obnoxious, a poor teacher..." Winter started.

"According to Glynda I've improved." Robin interjected.

"Arrogant..."

"Says her."

"Immature..." Winter paused while waiting for Robins comment.

"I'll give her that one." Robin smiled.

"And caring." Winter finished, Robins smile grew a bit.

"Sounds like I have someone's consent." Robin joked, Winter folded up the letter and placed it in her pocket.

"So it would seem." Winter smiled, Blanc rolled over in the bed while mumbling in her sleep.

"Mommy... Daddy... don't go." Blanc mumbled, she sounded like she was going to cry.

"We're not going anywhere dear, not without you." Winter said softly, Robin got up and sat on the other side of the bed.

"Yeah, we won't leave on your own. We're a family, we stay together." Robin whispered as he brushed some of Blanc's hair to the side. 'Then again, I don't really have the right to say that with the condition of most of my family.' Robin thought.

"Ungh..." Blanc groaned as she slowly opened her eyes.

"Morning, snow angel." Robin smiled.

"Mornin' Daddy... mornin' Mommy." Blanc yawned.

"Morning dear, get ready, we're going out for a bit." Winter told Blanc.

* * *

Robin was looking over a list while drinking from his flask, the prices for the parts he needed were quite high.

"Looks like I'm out of commission for a while." Robin sighed as he put the list and flask in his pocket.

"Good, that means you have time to spend with your family." Winter pointed out.

"Right as always." Robin chuckled, Blanc looked up at him and smiled. 'How can she be my kid, she looks too pure.' Robin thought.

The first stop the family made was a clothing store.

"Winter, Blanc already has clothes." Robin reminded.

"Yes, but did you or me pick them out. Robin, this is family bonding time, so play your part and be Blanc's father." Winter scolded.

"Family bonding is quite a foreign concept to me, never got to partake in that particular activity much." Robin sighed heavily.

"Then get used to taking part in it." Winter ordered, Robin brushed the red patch of his hair back. Roughly thirty minutes passed in the clothing store, the same amount of time was spent in some more clothing stores and an hour passed in the toy store. Robin enjoyed the time he spent with Winter and Blanc and smiled for longer than he had before.

When they got back to the manor the family of three went back to the room they were staying in.

* * *

A few days of family time later:

Robin went to the garden and got his scroll out.

"Research time." Robin proclaimed, he sat on the low wall and began looking through files. "Broken law, bribery, charity event, dust import, dust export, blood drive... blood drive?" Robin found something to inspect, he pulled up as many files as he could on the blood drive. "Schnee funded... so they didn't organize it? Who did?" Robin looked through the rest of the files. "Participants? Why would they keep a list of donors? Let's see... Winter Schnee. So Winter donated blood, she gave someone access to her DNA. That backs up my theory, but how did they get my DNA? I've never taken part in any blood drives or anything that would give away my DNA... except for when I got back from 'that mission', I did have to go to hospital and do a multitude of tests... Including a blood transfusion, they could have easily extracted some blood while they were setting up... it's not like I was fully conscious." Robin kept digging around in the files. "How deep does this plan run?" He asked himself, after an hour of searching there were no more results. "They're hiding themselves quite well." Robin smiled. "Fine then, I've always enjoyed a good hunt."

* * *

"Jacques! Blood drive explanation! Now!" Robin shouted as he barged into Jacques's study, Jacques and a familiar face looked over at Robin.

"What now? I'm in the middle of a discussion." Jacques sighed in annoyance.

"It's alright Jacques, we can continue this later." Ironwood said as he began to leave.

"Nope. Ironwood, you're staying. I might need to discuss something with you." Robin declared as he turned to face Jacques. "Tell me who organized the blood drive from a few months ago." Robin demanded.

"Why, whatever are you talking about?" Jacques asked mockingly.

"Don't push me, I'm on the edge of my patience and will put you out of business if I feel like it." Robin threatened.

"Very well then, I do not know who organized the blood drive. All communication went through a third party." Jacques explained, Robin had an angry look on his face.

"I really wish you were lying to me." Robin sighed. "Great, I'm out of leads."

"What is this about?" Ironwood asked.

"My daughter." Robin answered bluntly. "I'm ninety-three percent certain that she was created from mine and Winter's DNA, but for what reason I don't know. What I do know is that she was told that me and Winter are her parents, whoever made her planned to have her meet us at some point and I want to know why." Robin explained.

"I'll help anyway I can." Ironwood offered.

"Thanks, that saves me having to negotiate with you." Robin smiled. "Now then, I'll excuse myself." Robin said as he left the study.

* * *

Robin lit a cigarette and paced about the garden, he just managed to avoid a gunshot.

"Who's there!?" Robin yelled, he attempted to draw Senbonzakura, but remembered that he left it on the desk in his room. A hooded figure landed in front of Robin and smirked.

"You are delving into matter that you should be ignorant of, I ask that you give up your petty search." The hooded figure warned.

"Sorry, I don't give up halfway." Robin declared, he put his fists up and did a few mock punches. "Now then, tell me what I want to know before I beat it outta ya." Robin threatened. The hooded figure rushed at Robin and attempted to cut his throat with a curved sword, Robin leant back just in time to avoid the attack and kick his assailant away.

"That all ya got." Robin taunted. "I've had more challenging trips to the bathroom."

"Such youthful arrogance." The assailant remarked as they started slashing at Robin, a few hits landed and Robin didn't have the chance to counter. The assailant backed off to catch their breath.

"Big mistake!" Robin yelled as he punched his attacker in the jaw and proceeded to roundhouse kick them in the ribs. Robin kept up a combo of punches and kicks until he knocked his assailant to the ground, he grabbed them by the collar and raised his fist for one last heavy punch.

"I'm not going to tell you anything." The assailant declared as his aura flickered to show he was vulnerable to actual damage.

"Let's see how long that holds true for." Robin said as a sadistic smile crept up on his face, he threw another heavy punch straight into the attackers left cheek. "Who do you work for?" Robin asked as he wound up the next punch.

"Mer... lot." The assailant uttered before passing out, the colour drained from Robins face.

"Dammit!" Robin shouted, he took his scroll out as Ironwood and Winter arrived in the garden.

"What happened here?" Ironwood asked.

"I was almost killed, but I got a lead." Robin answered.

"Who are you calling?" Winter asked.

"Ozpin, this concerns him now." Robin sighed as he listened to the dialling tone.

"Robin? It's almost midnight." Ozpin stated.

"Oz, I've got something to tell you." Robin said calmly.

"What is so important that it couldn't wait for the morning?" Ozpin asked.

"Merlot." Robin stated.

"Go on." Ozpin said, his voice now sounding serious.

"He's alive, created Blanc and tried to have me killed." Robin listed.

"Robin, we're going to have to cut your vacation short." Ozpin half joked.

"Oh don't worry, I've been waiting to get to the bottom of this mystery. Send a bullhead tomorrow, we should have a location by tomorrow." Robin stated.

"We?" Ozpin inquired.

"Yep, Winter and Ironwood are right here." Robin responded.

"Alright, I'll send the bullhead for five in the morning. Rest until then." Ozpin said before hanging up.

"Oh, I won't be sleeping tonight. I've got to plan ahead for tomorrow." Robin smirked.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: On the job accident

"I don't believe I asked for your help." Robin huffed.

"Ozpin doesn't want you to be reckless, so I have been sent to keep an eye on you." Glynda retorted.

"Doesn't Oz need you at Beacon?" Robin asked bitterly.

"You know as well as I do that Ozpin can handle himself." Glynda responded calmly, Robin was quiet for the rest of the journey.

* * *

The bullhead touched down on an empty landing platform.

"Because that's discreet." Robin sighed.

"Would you have preferred to walk?" Glynda asked rhetorically, Robin began mumbling under his breath.

* * *

"A console?" Robin questioned, he connected his scroll and began typing furiously.

"What are you doing?" Glynda asked.

"Getting some data." Robin responded quickly, his eyes never leaving the screen.

"Do you have to rush that much?" Glynda inquired.

"Well it doesn't do us well to over stay our welcome." Robin half joked.

"Yes, but you're typing like you're out of time." Glynda pointed out. "Why are you so fixated on finding out why your daughter was created?"

"Because..." Robin trailed off for a few seconds. "I know what it's like to be a mistake." Robin choked out, his typing slowed down. "I'm not saying that I don't want Blanc in my life, I'm glad she exists." Robin stated as his typing came to a halt.

"Then this is a deeply personal reason." Glynda deduced.

"Right as always." Robin confirmed. "I wasn't planned for." Robin said solemnly, his hand brushing his hair back while he let out a long sigh. "I was the mistake of a drunk man who didn't think things through." Robin spat out, his tone grew angry.

"So you want to have a reason for your daughters existence besides the fact that she's alive." Glynda said, Robin nodded and went back to typing. A few minutes passed before an alarm went off.

"Seems we have a pair of intruders." An old voice rang out from the speakers.

"Well... He knows we're here." Robin sighed as his shoulders drooped down, he grabbed his scroll and drew Senbonzakura. "Ready to fight?" Robin asked Glynda.

"I'm ready to clean up another of your messes." Glynda sighed.

"Hey, I didn't start this one." Robin pointed out.

"But you followed it through." Glynda reputed.

"True." Robin conceded.

A horde of robots began rushing into the room. Robin and Glynda headed back the way they came, there was a big space just behind them.

"This will give us more room at least." Robin laughed nervously as he cut down a robot, another robot would have landed a hit if Glynda hadn't sent it flying into a wall.

"Focus." Glynda warned.

The two faced the onslaught of robots, they weren't thinning in numbers and before too long mutated grimm started appearing.

"Merlot did experiments on grimm!?" Robin yelled as he avoided a slash from a mutant Beowolf, he retaliated in kind by slashing the mutant grimms head off.

"That I did boy, I furthered science." Merlot confirmed over the speakers.

"You furthered your own delusions." Robin yelled.

"Then what do you call this?" Merlot asked, a second alarm rang and a heavy yet fast sound began resounding. Then it crawled in.

"A mutant Deathstalker!" Robin yelled as he took out a few more robots and mutant grimm, he was was getting tired and his aura was getting low. "Red." Robin whispered to himself, he looked down at his katana. 'You can't hold out much longer either, huh?' Robin thought, a sad smile apparent on his face.

Robin and Glynda managed to deal some damage to the enemies numbers, but the Deathstalker was making things difficult. The mutants stinger headed straight for Glynda's back, Robin got behind Glynda and raised his weapon to defend himself.

"Bring it!" Robin taunted.

The Deathstalkers stinger smashed right through Senbonzakura and Robins aura, Robin felt the intense pain of the stinger running him through.

"Robin!" Glynda yelled as the mutant Deathstalker threw Robin against a wall, his body fell to the floor with a thud. Robin was motionless.

Glynda hurriedly dispatched the rest of her foes and sent a blast of dust at the Deathstalker, a giant icicle pierced right through its head and the mutant dropped down.

"No!" Merlot shouted over the speakers. "Fine, if my research is going down the drain... we'll all go down with it!" Merlot yelled as yet another alarm went off.

"Self-destruct imminent." A robotic voice called out over the speakers, Glynda levitated Robin and hurried back to the bullhead.

* * *

The entire building went up in flames as the bullhead flew off.

"Is he gonna be alright?" The pilot asked.

"I hope so." Glynda responded as she patched up Robins wound with an emergency health kit.

* * *

"What happened?" Winter asked Glynda as the paramedics loaded Robin into the ambulance.

"He attempted to block an attack aimed for me, his weapon broke and the attack went straight through his aura." Glynda informed Winter as she handed her the remains of Senbonzakura.

"That fool, he never puts himself first." Winter sighed.

"Excuse me, would you like to accompany the patient to the hospital?" One of the paramedics asked.

"Yes, I would." Winter replied. "Miss Goodwitch, could I ask you to bring Blanc to the hospital later?" Winter inquired.

"Very well." Glynda nodded.

* * *

Robin was put into intensive care as soon as the ambulance reached the hospital, Winter didn't leave his side.

"You fool." Winter whispered. Robin had a heart monitor hooked up to him, its slow beeps seemingly the only noise in the melancholic room. A doctor entered the room a couple of nurses.

"I'm sorry Ma'am, there is a high chance that Mr. Branwen won't make it. You have my condolences." The doctor apologized as the nurses adjusted the equipment.

"You don't know this man like I know him, he would come back from the dead just to spite whoever or whatever killed him." Winter smiled, though the thought of Robin potentially dying hung in the back of her mind.

"I'm sorry, but that is not how the human body works." The doctor reminded Winter.

"I'm aware, but it is how he works." Winter emphasised the 'is' in her statement.

"Very well, they say denial is the first stop." The doctor mumbled as he and the nurses left the room. A short time later Glynda and Blanc entered the room, Winter lifted Blanc onto her lap.

"What did the doctor say?" Glynda asked.

"Robin probably won't make it." Winter responded as Blanc grabbed a hold of Robins left hand.

"I'm sorry." Glynda apologised.

"He'll make it." Winter stated matter of factly.

"Yes, he wouldn't let near death stop him." Glynda agreed.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Reminiscence I: Team RDNT

Robins eyes slowly opened to an unfamiliar ceiling, he sat up and yawned.

"Where... Oh, right. Beacon." Robin groggily reminded himself. "Right... I'm a huntsman in training now... If I pass initiation." Robin sighed, he slowly got up and rolled up his sleeping bag. Robin threw his sleeping bag in his temporary locker and got changed into his usual gear.

"Black short sleeved shirt? Check. Red tie and white cross pin? Check. Blue jeans? Check. High tops? Check. Senbonzakura? Check. All ready..." Robin checked as he was about to close his locker. "Oh! Wait... Red cape, there we go." He said as he clipped his cape up, Robin then headed towards the cliff where initiation would begin.

* * *

"Remember, you will have to implement your own landing strategies." Ozpin finished, the first student was launched shortly after.

'I'm getting second thoughts.' Robin thought as the nerves kicked in. 'No, gotta go through with this. Dad could do it and you can to.' Robin reassured himself, then he felt the ground lifting him up. The next thing Robin knew, he was flying through the sky. 'This is kind of funny since I'm named after a bird.' Robin humoured himself, he drew Senbonzakura and switched it to scythe mode. Robin hooked the blade onto a tree and spiralled down the trunk.

"And I was worried." Robin sighed, he began walking through the emerald forest. "I wonder who I'm going to be partnered up with?" Robin wondered aloud. "There were so many cool weapons... and people, don't be weird Robin, don't be weird... easier said than done." Robin began talking to himself.

"I'll say." An unfamiliar voice chuckled.

"Gahh!" Robin screamed, he turned around to find a young man standing in front of him. Well he would be young, he would have to be seventeen unless he got in early like Robin. The young man had pitch black hair and brown eyes, he wore a black T-shirt with a cityscape printed on it, dark blue ripped jeans and black trainers.

"Whoah! Calm down, I'm friend not foe." The young man reassured. "You always this jumpy?"

"No... It's just that I'm nervous." Robin admitted. "Well, I guess we're partners now."

"Seems like it." The young man smiled. "I'm Dusk Shade, seventeen. Though the age was a given since we're first years." Dusk introduced.

"I'm Robin Branwen, sixteen... and a half." Robin introduced himself in turn, Dusk's eyes widened.

"Sixteen? So you got in a year early?" Dusk asked.

"Yeah, apparently defeating an Ursa while still at Signal gives you an in." Robin rubbed the back of his head.

"Wow, you must have a powerful weapon." Dusk commented.

"It's nothing special." Robin waved off the comment. "Anyway, shouldn't we be finding the temple?" Robin asked.

"Right, lead the way prodigy." Dusk joked.

"Please don't call me that." Robin said as he began walking. It didn't take long for the partners to reach the temple.

"Seems like we're not the first to reach this place." Dusk pointed out as he noticed a few empty pedestals.

"Well at least no one moved any so others couldn't find them." Robin commented.

"You really think someone would do that?" Dusk asked.

"I don't know, not everyone's nice." Robin shrugged, he picked up a joker playing card. "You okay with this one Dusk?" Robin asked his new partner.

"Sure." Dusk responded.

* * *

Robin and Dusk were halfway to the base of the cliff when they suddenly heard screaming and yelling, the two nodded to each other and ran off in the direction of the noise. When the pair arrived at the scene, they found a pair comprising of a young man and woman. The man had light green hair and hazel eyes, he wore an olive green long sleeved shirt, a dark green coat, black trousers and black dress shoes. The woman had light blue hair, light blue eyes and wore a dark blue hoodie covering a light blue T-shirt, dark blue jeans and blue sneakers. The pair was being attacked by a King Taijitu, Robin took a running leap and slashed one of the grimms eyes. Dusk took out a pair of pistols, fitted them together into a machine gun and fired at the Taijitu as soon as Robin landed.

"You two okay?" Robin asked the pair.

"Yes, thanks to you." The young man thanked.

"We're hunters, we look out for each other." Robin smiled, the nervousness from earlier disappeared. "Can you still fight?"

"Yes!" The partners responded.

"Then keep fighting, try and take out the Taijitu's head." Robin ordered.

"It has two heads." The green haired man reminded.

"Don't worry, I've got a plan." Robin winked before running into the thick of the woods.

"Let's trust him." The blue haired woman said.

"Alright." The young man nodded.

The green haired young man pulled out a small pole and pressed a button that made it extend into a bo staff. The blue haired young woman pulled out two knives and pressed a button on one of them, the blade shot off into a tree with a cable connecting it to the hilt and the young woman zipped up into the tree. Dusk stopped firing. The young man used his bo staff to vault above the King Taijitu and knocked its head about before vaulting off the back of its head. The young woman leapt from the tree and stabbed one of her knives into the grimms back, she pressed the button that ejected the blade and pierced right through the Taijitu. The first head fell to the ground, the second head rose from the ground. Robin jumped out from a tree and changed his katana into its scythe form, Robin hooked the blade around the base of the grimms head and let gravity do the rest. The blade sliced through and Robin landed in a crouch with the King Taijitu's second head landing behind him as the body slumped to the ground.

"A scythe?" The young woman asked in amazement.

"You said it was nothing special, a scythe is the most difficult weapon to learn to use and yet you made it seem as easy as breathing." Dusk stated.

"I've had a lot of training." Robin shrugged.

"Regardless of your abilities, shouldn't we be heading back?" The young man asked.

"Right." Dusk agreed.

"Oh, um... What should we call you?" Robin asked to the yet unnamed pair.

"I'm Nettle Greene." Nettle introduced himself quickly.

"I'm Tear Azul, nice to meet you." Tear introduced herself with a smile. "What should we call you two?" Tear asked backed.

"Dusk Shade, seventeen." Dusk gave the same introduction he gave Robin.

"Robin Branwen, sixteen." Robin gave his copy introduction.

"Sixteen?" Nettle questioned.

"I killed an Ursa while still enrolled at Signal, according to Ozpin that shows potential. I'm sure I'm just here to fill in the numbers." Robin explained.

"No, I'd say you definitely have talent. None of us would be here if we didn't." Tear cheered.

"Right." Robin gave a small laugh. "Anyway, I think we've held everyone up for long enough." Robin joked as he began heading towards the cliff.

* * *

"Robin Branwen, Dusk Shade, Nettle Greene and Tear Azul. You four reclaimed the joker card, from this day onward for the next four years you shall work together as... Team RDNT, led by Robin Branwen." Ozpin announced.

"Led by..." Robin trailed off, he was speechless. "Me." He managed to utter, a small smile forming on his lips.

"Congrats man." Dusk congratulated.

"It seems like a wise decision." Nettle added.

"You'll do great." Tear smiled.

* * *

The team headed to their room and unpacked their things.

"Didn't bring much huh, Robin?" Dusk asked.

"I just grabbed the bare essentials." Robin admitted. "You didn't exactly bring much yourself, Dusk." Robin pointed out.

"Yeah, but I actually brought a poster to put up. You know, give the room that feel that someone lives here." Dusk defended.

"It wouldn't hurt to make the room feel homelier." Nettle smiled.

"Sorry that I didn't want to bring a workshop into a shared room." Robin retorted snarkily.

"A workshop?" Tear asked.

"I... might be a bit of a gear head." Robin admitted.

"That means you can help us with maintenance when we need it." Dusk pointed out.

"Sure, but I won't be doing all the work. I'll probably just give some recommendations." Robin shrugged.

"Well, seems like we're all getting along." Tear smiled.

"Let's hope it stays that way." Nettle added.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: A lovely vacation

Robin woke up to an unfamiliar ceiling, a slow beeping sound rang out rhythmically.

"Where... am I?" Robin groggily asked himself as he removed an oxygen mask from his face, a headache suddenly hitting him like a truck. A quick scan of the room revealed medical equipment in a completely white room, Robin attempted to piece together how he ended up here.

"I'm obviously in a hospital..." Robin began. "Which means that I must have taken a big hit..." Robin trailed off as he looked at the equipment sitting next to him. "A really big hit at that." He laughed lightly. Robin laid in silence for awhile as he thought about what happened at Merlot Industries, that's when he remembered.

"Mutant Deathstalker." Robin muttered, he took his scroll out from his pocket. "I guess they didn't want to touch anything."Robin assumed, he checked the time and date on his scroll. "A week? That's how long I've been awake for?" Robin asked himself. A doctor walked into the room and towards the bed Robin was resting in, he was looking at a clipboard and hadn't noticed that Robin was awake.

"Mornin' doc." Robin greeted, the doctor jumped back in surprise.

"How... how are you alive?" The doctor asked. "You had an incredibly slim chance of surviving, we were going to claim you legally dead at the end of the week." The doctor explained.

"Yeah... I have the strangest habit of winning against the odds." Robin joked.

"You are a miracle." The doctor sighed.

"Glad someone thinks so." Robin commented.

"Anyway, I should give you your medical report." The doctor said as he looked back at the clipboard.

"Report away." Robin smiled.

"You have three fractured ribs, your stomach was punctured, you received blunt force trauma to the back of the head..." The doctor read.

"That explains the headache." Robin interrupted.

"And your left arm has been temporarily paralysed by some form of poison that we hadn't seen before, you're lucky that that's the only part of your body that it affected." The doctor finished.

Robin tried raising his left arm to no avail, he propped himself up into a sitting position. A small pain stirred in his stomach.

"I suppose I should thank you for operating on and putting up with me." Robin smiled.

"You can thank me after your rehabilitation." The doctor smiled.

"Rehab huh?" Robin questioned. "Can we start now?" Robin asked.

"No, we will start tomorrow. You should rest for today." The doctor lectured. "Besides, you should have a couple of visitors soon." The doctor commented before leaving the room.

'I can hazard a guess as to who.' Robin thought, the doors to the room opened not long after the thought passed. Winter and Blanc walked in, Blanc immediately hopped onto the bed to hug Robin.  
"Yay! Daddy's awake!" Blanc declared.

"Yes I am snow angel, but could you not hug me so tight. Daddy's in a lot of pain right now." Robin smiled with a hint of pain.

"Sorry." Blanc apologised, Robin pet her head to show he was fine with it.

"It's alright, I'll be all better soon." Robin explained.

"And I actually worried that you might die." Winter commented joining in the conversation.

"You? Worried? I might've died after all." Robin joked with mock surprise.

"So near death experiences don't phase you." Winter asked, Robin's smile turned slightly sad. "Oh, sorry. I forgot." Winter apologised.

"It's fine, I'm over it for the most part. Just stings a bit from time to time, I don't think I'll ever forget them."Robin smiled gently.

"And you shouldn't." Winter reminded. "They must have been amazing people to put up with you." She added.

"Yeah, they were." Robin agreed, he didn't even mind the insult.

"You didn't retort?" Winter questioned.

"Heh, didn't want to." Robin said softly, he took this particular subject more seriously than most. "Anyway..." Robin began trying to change the subject. "My vacation is almost over so I'll be heading back to Beacon soon." Robin explained.

"I have to return to the military in four days." Winter added.

"Right, we'll have to find a place for Blanc to stay. The military isn't the best or safest place to raise a child and while Beacon is safe, the multitude of weapons there is not." Robin sighed. "I was thinking of asking my uncle to take care of her."

"Would he be okay with that?" Winter asked.

"He'd probably enjoy having a child around the house again." Robin smiled. "And he is a huntsman, so he's qualified to protect her." Robin explained.

"Then it's settled, will you take Blanc to your uncle's after you're discharged?"

"Yeah, I plan to be outta here in two days." Robin smiled. "And I am aware that hospitals don't work that way, but once I show them that I'm fine I'll find a way out."

"I'll look after Blanc for the next two days then." Winter said.

"Right." Robin agreed.

* * *

"Well, it seems that you're perfectly healthy. As long as you don't over exert yourself you should recover in good time, your left arm will take a little while longer though." The doctor informed Robin.

"So do I have the all clear?" Robin inquired.

"Yes, you can leave." The doctor sighed, Robin hadn't quit pestering him about leaving since yesterday.

* * *

Robin put on a new shirt and blazer that Winter had bought him, he fastened the tie to its usual loose length and adjusted the cross pin so that it was at the angle he liked it at.

"Right, time to pick up Blanc and head to patch. If I spend all of tomorrow there then get a bullhead back to Beacon in the morning I should have enough time to report to Oz and plan my next lesson, this will go well." Robin sighed as he looked at the sling his left arm was in, getting changed, bathing and brushing his teeth would still be easy enough, but some tasks were gonna be difficult. One such task being remaking Senbonzakura, that would probably have to wait until he regained the ability to use his left arm.

"Here is everything she should need." Winter said as she placed a suitcase next to Robin, she then handed him a duffle bag. Robin looked inside and saw the katana he had worked so hard on as a kid broken in two. Robin felt sadder than he probably should have, but he had been through a lot with this weapon.

"Thanks." Robin smiled as he wiped away a tear that was forming.

"I'll visit you at Beacon when I can." Winter promised, Robin quickly kissed her on the cheek before heading for the landing platform.

* * *

Robin knocked on the door of the all too familiar house.

'Please be home.' Robin prayed before the door opened.

"Robin?" Taiyang questioned. "What are you doing here?"

"I need to ask you for a favour." Robin smiled. "Can we come inside?"

"We?" Taiyang asked before looking down at Blanc. "You've got some explaining to do." Taiyang glared at Robin. Robin explained the events in order from when he found Blanc at Beacon to when he ended up hospitalised.

"So you've had a rough two weeks, huh?" Taiyang asked.

"The investigation was rough, yeah." Robin corrected as he took a sip of the coffee Taiyang made.

"And you want me to look after your daughter?"

"She wouldn't be safe with me." Robin admitted.

"Alright, I'll look after Blanc for you. She seems to be getting along with Zwei anyway." Taiyang pointed out, Robin looked over at Blanc and saw her rubbing Zwei's stomach. Robin smiled.

"Thanks uncle Tai, I've already explained to Blanc that she might be staying with you. And don't worry, she has good manners." Robin promised.

"And she's your daughter?" Taiyang joked.

"I can hardly believe it myself." Robin joked along.

* * *

"You didn't have to see me off." Robin smiled. "And you didn't have to carry my bags."

"You can't use your left arm, you should rely on others at times like these." Taiyang lectured to Robins dismay.

"The key word being should." Robin reputed.

"Alright, you're not in the mood for a lecture. Here are your bags." Taiyang passed the duffle bag and Robins suitcase over.

"Thanks." Robin whispered as he boarded the bullhead.

* * *

The first thing Robin did upon returning to Beacon was put his things back in his room, he hung up his clothes and placed the duffle bag in the corner of the room closest to his bed. Robin then headed to the cafeteria, he wanted to grab something to eat. Robin was just in time to watch Glynda reassemble the cafeteria, he had a feeling he knew who was responsible for the mess. Robin looked at the centre.

'Yep, teams RWBY and JNPR.' Robin mentally sighed. 'Wait where's...' Robin thought as he scanned the room for his eldest cousin, before she came crashing through the ceiling. 'I can't decide whether or not to applaud them or scold them.'

"Let it go." Ozpin said calmly as he walked up to Glynda.

"They're supposed to be the defenders of the world." Glynda sighed.

"And they will be." Ozpin reminded. "But right now they're still children, so why not let them play the part?" Ozpin asked rhetorically. "After all... it isn't a role they'll have forever."

"I can vouch for that." Robin smiled, Glynda and Ozpin turned to face him.

"I'm glad you are okay Robin." Glynda said.

"I heard about what happened from Glynda, it's good to see you haven't changed." Ozpin smiled as he took a sip of coffee.

"I'm not gonna let a few wounds change me." Robin laughed. "So I guess you've seen my medical report?" Robin asked.

"Yes." Ozpin responded.

"Just so you know, I'm not unfit for work." Robin commented.

"I wouldn't expect you to be. However, I will be expecting a report from you by the end of the first week of the new semester." Ozpin said as Robin let his smile turn to a frown.

"Yay, paper work." Robin cheered dryly as he walked towards the two trouble making teams. "Ya miss me kids?" Robin asked with a big smile.

"You're back!" Ruby yelled as she tackle hugged Robin.

"And there go the rest of my ribs." Robin choked out as Ruby stood up, Robin got back to his feet and took a deep breath.

"What happened to your arm?" Yang asked drawing the others attention to the sling Robins left arm was in.

"Temporary paralysis, this is the result of me fighting with a poorly maintained weapon and an ego." Robin let out an emotionless laugh.

"Wait, so what happened to Senbonzakura?" Ruby asked worriedly.

"In a bag in my room... broken." Robin answered emotionlessly.

"Robin?" Yang asked.

"Huh? What is it?" Robin asked back with a forced smile.

"Remember, we're here for you." Yang reminded, this got an agreement from the rest of the people in the room. Robin let out a light laugh.

"I'm aware. Anyway, I have a lesson to plan. See ya'll later." Robin waved goodbye and went back to his room. Robin sat on the floor and lent against the frame of his bed, he took out his flask and began drinking from it.

'And I'm supposed to be alright, what a damn lie.' Robin thought as closed his flask and curled up, he let the tears flow out for the rest of the day and into the night.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: A World Without Me

When Robin woke up it was dark, he stumbled to the light switch a turned on the lights. The sudden change in lighting stung for a few seconds, he threw his blazer onto the bed. Robin sat down at his desk and grabbed a pen and some paper, he began writing his report. Robin took breaks periodically where he would drink most of the whiskey from his flask and refill it, he finished the report after two hours. Robin got up and took the report to Ozpin's office, he took his time while walking. The elevator trip lasted longer than usual, Robin let out a long sigh as the doors opened. Ozpin wasn't in the room, Robin left the report on the desk and got back in the elevator. Robin took the long way back to his room, he stopped outside in the courtyard and sat on a bench. The night time air was cold, it didn't matter. The flask was empty, it didn't matter. He was back to 'that' state, did it matter? Was the near death experience a message, was the world telling him it didn't care? Did the world not care because he was a mistake? Or was his life a form of amusement for whatever beings were looking down at him from on high?

"It seems I should enforce a curfew for the staff as well as the students." Ozpin mused as he sat next to Robin.

"Wouldn't change much, some birds don't like being caged." Robin joked dryly.

"I read your report." Ozpin changed the subject.

"Do I have to rewrite it?" Robin asked.

"No, it was perfect." Ozpin responded.

"Then why are we talking out here in the middle of the night?"

"Because one of my staff members lied about being fit for work."

"So I guess I'm fired." Robin sighed.

"No, we are going to talk about your current condition." Ozpin responded.

"I'm depressed." Robin stated bluntly.

"Why?" Ozpin asked.

"Why?! Look at me Oz! I am crippled, I broke the weapon I relied on for so long and I'm scared." Robin snapped.

"And what are you scared of?"

"Everything. The past, the present, the future... myself." Robin choked out, he brushed the red patch of his hair back and let his hand rest on his head.

"Yourself?" Ozpin questioned.

"What I'm capable of. And you know what that is." Robin reminded.

"Ah, yes. Your semblance." Ozpin remembered.

"Yeah." Robin nodded.

"Robin, you don't need to be afraid. You have people around you, people who would gladly help you." Ozpin assured.

"You know me Oz, I don't ask for help. I don't trust others." Robin refuted.

"No, you don't trust yourself. If you didn't trust others you wouldn't be working here, you wouldn't be married, you wouldn't have taken in a child and you wouldn't keep an eye on your cousins." Ozpin stated. "Robin, as a hunter you have enemies. You have already encountered a few, but you have never lost to them. And I doubt you will lose to the enemies in your future."

"What's your point Oz?" Robin asked.

"You are the only enemy you have ever lost to. When your team died, you blamed yourself. You are currently repeating that same mistake, you have lost something important to you and are blaming yourself." Ozpin pointed out. "And I believe you are the one who told your students that sometimes the pain can be too hard to bare on your own. If that pain is so hard to bare on your own, then let the people who care about you help you bare it." Ozpin said before leaving. Robin stared at the ground for what felt like ages. Ozpin was right, like always. Robin still had one thought left, the thought that stuck to him like glue since the loss of his team.

'I'm a dead man walking.' Robin thought. 'I'm living off of borrowed time, and I don't know when that time will run out.' Robin found himself conflicted, Ozpin's words sparked something in him, but his dark thoughts were trying to snuff out that spark. Robin's usually faded red eyes began glowing, he looked up.

"Right, this is how he saw the world." Robin muttered. "You're trying to comfort me aren't you? You're all there aren't you? Dusk, Nettle... Tear, I miss you guys. But I get the message, you want me to live on. So I will, if not for myself, for you." Robin stood up, a look of determination in his eyes. "This dead man walking will live for the sake of those he cares about... and maybe one day, he will live for himself." Robin found his resolve.

"It seems that you don't have to rely on others to pick you up." An all too familiar voice stated, Robin turned around.

"And it seems you still can't make a normal entrance." Robin joked as he saw the remains of a portal close. "Aunt Raven, if you need help with a mission again... you'll have to wait." Robin chuckled as he pointed at his left arm.

"It seems so." Raven agreed.

"I knew it had to be a mission. For someone who doesn't spend much time with family, you can be figured out easily." Robin smiled, the two pairs of bright red eyes locked for a few seconds.

"You've changed, you would have yelled at me about Yang by now." Raven pointed out.

"Well, I have to stop being a child at some point, throwing a tantrum is something most twenty one year olds do. I am supposedly an adult." Robin admitted, one of Raven's portals opened up behind her. "Time to say good bye?" Robin asked.

"Good bye." Raven said as she walked through the portal, it closed shortly after she left.

"Changed?" Robin questioned, a smile spread across his face. "I guess." He admitted, Robin walked back to his room.

* * *

Robin took a shower and stared into the mirror, his eyes were still glowing. Robin traced down from his left shoulder to his hand, he slowly raised it.

"A bit achey, but should be fine in a few days. Just gotta take it slow." Robin smiled, he looked at the palm of his right hand and clenched it into a fist. "Thank you. I'll never forget you guys." Robin thanked. "Dusk Shade, Nettle Greene and Tear Azul, you shall forever live on in memory... no, you will forever be by my side. From this day forth, Team RDNT is back in action." Robin smiled. His team was with him, even in passing. "Well, tonight was encouraging." Robin remarked to himself as he lay on his bed. "Good night." Robin whispered as he drifted off to sleep.


	14. Chapter 14

**I'm back to this story. And what better way to come back to a story than with a glimpse into the past?**

* * *

Chapter 14: Reminiscence II: Getting along

"All I'm asking is that you refrain from endangering your team!" Nettle yelled. Nettle and Robin had begun arguing about Robin's choice to fight the Grimm head on during their last mission; all the students were required to take on three missions throughout the course of their current year.

Robin groaned as he turned around to face Nettle. "I didn't endanger anyone, we're all fine."

"Barely, you need to have a plan if you're going to fight a large group of Grimm." The green haired teen explained.

"A plan is something that takes time to be formulated, time that can't be spared." The red eyed teen refuted. "Or would you prefer we get stampeded and torn to shreds?"

"Look, I'm only trying to help. You need to think of plans for these types of situations beforehand. That way, we know what to do when these sorts of situations arise."

Robin was seething at this point. "Planning for a situation like that isn't exactly easy. You never know what will happen on the battlefield, whether it's fighting people or Grimm, you can't plan for something if you don't know it can happen."

"You can at least set some precautionary measures. You're our leader; you need to remember that you're responsible for our lives as well." Nettle reminded angrily.

"What? Are you implying that you could do better?" Robin mockingly asked. "Then be my guest, show me how to be an actual leader. Show how inferior I am to you just because I'm a year younger than you..." The teen urged with a smile and emotionless stare before trailing off. "That's what this is about! You're jealous that I got in a year early, you're just being petty." He accused.

The accused teen snapped. "That is not what this is about! I don't care about our age difference; it's too small to matter. I just expected more from the son of Qrow Branwen."

Robin noticeably twitched at the mention of his father. "Well I'm sorry to disappoint you, I'm not my father."

"I'm just saying that you have a lot to live up to, you're father is an excellent huntsman. It's just a shame that you've taken your position as his son for granted."

Robin entered a rage after the last comment. He grabbed Nettle and held him against the wall of their room. "Shut up! You have no clue what it's like being that man's son, you have no right to accuse me of taking my 'position' for granted! You have no right to tell me of the expectations that have been set for me! You have no right to think that my life has been easy!" Robin shoved Nettle against the wall before storming out of the room, Nettle dusted himself off and lied down on his bed. Dusk and Tear stood still for a few seconds, the latter darting out of the room to help their leader calm down.

Dusk sat next to Nettle. "You know, that could have gone better."

"I know." Nettle groaned.

"I do agree with you by the way, having a plan is good. But Robin is also right; there are some things that you can't plan for." The black haired teen stated. "And you overstepped your bounds when you brought up his dad."

"I know." Nettle groaned again.

"So, you gonna apologise?"

"If he doesn't hate me, yeah."

* * *

Robin was sitting on a bench, he clenched onto a can of people like grapes soda. He made sure not to hold onto the can to hard, he had calmed down to the point where he was thinking rationally.

"You gonna finish that?" Tear asked as she sat down, Robin passed the can over to her.

"Haven't even started it." He mumbled. "I'm not going back."

"I wasn't going to ask you to. You know why? Because if I did, I would be forcing you. And then this would probably remain unresolved." Tear explained.

The leader sighed. "Let me guess, we're gonna talk?"

"Yep!" Tear replied excitedly.

"Nope." Robin countered as he stood up; he walked off toward the cafeteria.

The blue haired teen pouted. "You can't just run away."

* * *

Robin was walking through a corridor, he wasn't sure which one since he was walking about aimlessly. He didn't want to go back to his teams room, he didn't want to face Nettle and yell at him again. Robin sat against a wall, drew his knees up to his chest and hugged them.

"Why is leading a team so difficult?" The teen asked no one in particular, however he did get an answer.

"Because as a leader, you must learn what it is like to be responsible for more than your own life." Ozpin answered, Robin looked up to see the man smiling down at him.

Robin let out a sigh. "So I'm in the wrong, huh?"

"I wouldn't know, I don't know what this is about." Ozpin replied. "However, it seems you have had a disagreement with one of your teammates."

"Tear told you about the argument between me and Nettle, didn't she?" The teen asked, knowing the answer already.

"Yes, Ms. Azul has informed me of what happened." The old man confirmed. "Mr. Branwen, you must understand that as you have your own opinion, so do your teammates. You will not agree on everything and you will argue, but you will also understand that the four of you are different people and that you will be there for each other. That is what it means to be a team, trusting each other despite your differences."

Robin stood up and looked the man in the eyes. "And what if I don't trust them?" The teen questioned.

Ozpin raised an eyebrow at the question. "Why don't you trust them?"

"Because I don't trust people, they have let me down too many times in the past." Robin averted his eyes as he shoved his hands in his pockets.

"You're referring to Qrow, aren't you?" The experienced huntsman asked.

"Yeah, the most time I spent with him was in class, where he had to spread his attention to a room full of students. I barely know my father, though I'm not surprised that he doesn't want to see me. People don't typically enjoy being reminded of their mistakes." Robin smiled bitterly.

"Robin, I can assure you that Qrow has no ill feelings towards you, he is proud of you. However, he had never raised a child before. What you believe to be hate is actually cluelessness; he didn't know how to raise you. So he trusted someone close to him to look after you." Ozpin explained. "Do you know who that person was?"

The brunette gave the gray haired man a confused look. "My uncle, Taiyang Xiao Long."

Ozpin let out a small chuckle. "No, actually. Qrow initially left you with his sister, your aunt, Raven."

"Aunt Raven? But... Huh?" Robin was confused by this revelation, his aunt had left shortly after Yang was born. He couldn't believe that she was the one raising him originally.

"I would love to answer any more questions you have, but I believe there are some eavesdroppers you should speak with." As Ozpin said this the remainder of team RDNT walked around the corner, Dusk and Tear had guilty looks on their faces and Nettle was wearing a regretful look. Ozpin took his leave as the leader walked over to his team.

"I'm sorry!" Both Robin and Nettle apologised in unison, they traded looks before they started snickering.

"Seriously though Robin, I'm sorry. I said what I said without thinking about how you might feel." Nettle apologised again.

"Again, I'm sorry to. I shouldn't have let my emotions get the better of me; I shouldn't have assaulted you either. Sorry." Robin repeatedly apologised. "I promise, from now on I'll make sure to have a plan ready instead of charging into things head on."

"Thank you. I promise that I'll follow your plans through, maybe we could figure them out together?" The green haired teen suggested.

"No. If we're going to work on plans, it'll be as a team. From now on we help each other, no matter what." The brunette stated.

"Right!" The rest of the team replied in unison.

The rest of the team's day was spent planning for various situations.


	15. Chapter 15

**I've finally finished this chapter, it's just been sitting there for so long. Sorry for not getting this done sooner, but I have other stories and I was considering whether or not to continue this one. Since people still read it, as I can tell from the fact that people, for some reason, still follow and favorite this story, I decided to continue it. There should be some differences between this chapter and previous chapters, it's longer, since I've started writing longer chapters, should have less mistakes, I repeat: should, and should have a wider variety of words.**

 **Anyway, I've held you all up long enough. I present to you... Oh Cousin, My Cousin Chapter 15.**

* * *

Chapter 15: Always a Pleasure

Robin looked at his reflection in the closet mirror, he was still topless. He traced his right hand down his left arm and poked the palm of his left hand; it felt better than it did last night when he first tried. Robin finished getting dressed and looked at his reflection again. He had a smile on his face, a genuine smile. He headed out the door and set off for Ozpin's office.

* * *

Robin hopped off the elevator and gave a hearty greeting. "Goooood morning!" The young man walked up to the window that Ozpin and Glynda were looking out of, then he noticed it. The Atlesian military was flying past.

"Ironwood certainly loves bringing his work wherever he travels." Glynda growled.

"Well, running an academy and a military makes him a busy man." Ozpin defended. "But yes, those are a bit of an eyesore."

Robin rubbed his temples. "Does he realise that this isn't the best time to parading his army about?" Before he could get an answer, an access requested alert flashed on Ozpin's desk.

"Come in." Ozpin confirmed as the elevator doors opened.

"Ozpin." Ironwood said as he walked through the doors, moving his arms in a friendly gesture.

"General." Ozpin replied with less enthusiasm.

"Please, drop the formalities." Ironwood chuckled. "It's been too long." He added as the two men shook hands. Glynda decided that that moment would be a good time to leave, Robin half wanted to join her.

"And Glynda! It has been far too long since the last time we met." The General smiled.

"Oh James..." Glynda started off, pretending to sound flattered. She leaned over to Ozpin. "I'll be outside." The Witch stated coldly.

"Glad to see she hasn't changed." Ironwood commented. Robin walked over to the man and offered him a handshake.

"General, I know it's only been about a week, but it's good to see you again." Robin almost had the force the words out of his mouth, he was actually very angry at the man in front of him. The army he brought with him being the sole reason.

"Robin, it's good to see you up." The general offered the young man a smile as they shook hands. Robin walked back over to Ozpin's desk and stood by the window, watching the crowds walk about.

"So... What has brought you to Beacon?" Ozpin asked the General as he poured a cup of coffee. "Headmasters don't typically make the trip with their students for the Vytal Festival." He pointed out as he handed the cup of coffee to Ironwood.

"Well, you know how much I love Vale this time of year." Ironwood joked as he added something to his coffee. "Besides, with you hosting, I thought this would be a good opportunity for us to catch up." He added, a hidden meaning to his words. One that didn't go unnoticed by the other Headmaster and teacher.

"I can certainly appreciate quality time between friends." Ozpin started as he sat down, pouring his own cup of coffee. "However, the small fleet you brought with you has me somewhat concerned." The Headmaster admitted, looking at the General for an answer.

"Well, concern is the reason I brought them." Ironwood conceded.

"To a school full of Hunters and Huntresses in training?" Robin asked sarcastically, he took a swig from his flask before continuing. "You do realise that bringing an army to a place filled with people training to protect the world is like saying: there's a big threat on its way and these Hunters and Huntresses and the trainees can't handle it." The man pointed out, the aggravation in his voice growing with every word.

"Robin-" Ozpin tried to caution, but the young man continued his rant.

"You've risked instilling fear in the people of Vale and the students of Beacon, do you remember what fear is James?" Robin asked, using Ironwood's first name to emphasise how much this decision had pissed him off.

"Robin-" Ozpin tried cautioning him again.

"It's a negative emotion, something that attracts the Grimm-" Robin was going to continue, but Ozpin hit his cane on the floor. The young man stopped talking instantly, his scowl lasted for a few seconds before fading to a regretful look. Robin took another swig from his flask and headed for the elevator.

"I've got lessons to plan." Robin excused himself as stepped into the elevator and pressed the ground floor button. The doors closed and Robin sighed, he ran his hand down his face.

"And my negative side comes out again. Looks like being positive is gonna be harder than I thought." The teacher laughed. With a ding, the elevator doors opened. Robin left the building and found a bench to sit on for a while.

While doing a bit of people watching, Robin thought about his plans for the near future. The dance was coming up soon, he figured he would go to chaperone at least. The Vytal Festival was still a few months away, he had his next few classes planned out. The more he thought about it, the more Robin realised that he had a lot of free time and no idea what to do with it.

Then he realised something he could do. Rebuild Senbonzakura. It was something he needed to do and since he had a lot of time to spare, he could work without interruption. So long as he wasn't needed for anything, he doubted he would be considering he was the newest staff member. They would get someone more experienced if a problem arose.

"Alright." Robin grunted as he pushed himself up off the bench, he headed back to his room to grab the remains of Senbonzakura. Then he headed for the weapons workshop.

* * *

"Alright, let's see. How did I do this back at Signal?" Robin mused as he pulled up Senbozakura's blueprints on his scroll. He took out the remains of his katana and started to take them apart, looking for parts to salvage. Since he had forgotten to buy any of the parts he needed, he would have to make do with anything he could salvage and anything that was left over in the workshop. Luckily, he managed to salvage the independent sections of the blade. Some would need to have their connectors rebuilt, but none of the pieces had been broken. This was a huge relief for Robin, remaking the blades sections would have cost him since he had to make each section separately. Robin took apart the connectors and put any salvaged parts aside, he left the blade sections next to the salvaged pieces.

"Okay... Next is the handle. Specifically the pole for my scythe." Robin muttered to himself as he pushed the small button on the handle that started the mechanism for changing his katana into a scythe. The pommel shuddered, but it didn't drop and bring out the pole. Robin tried a few more times before deciding to take the handle apart. He studied the mechanism for it, finding a few pieces out of place or broken beyond repair. The young adult decided to salvage what he could and remake the handle. He managed to salvage the pole and few pieces from the actual mechanism, but was less than happy with what he had to work with. He would have to really on the fact that a good number of spare were laying around.

"Well, let's hope I don't have Dad's bad luck." The brunette sighed amusedly. He started looking around the other workstations and in the drawers. He managed to find a spare handle, one without a guard though, a few small gears and few other parts he needed. It should've been enough, but Robin had a feeling it would be a stretch. Senbonzakura had originally been made for short fights, it wasn't supposed to be able to handle longer skirmishes.

Robin sat down at a nearby terminal and connected his scroll, he brought the blueprints up on the screen and used the provided art tablet to mess about with them. He tried different combinations of parts and different arrangements. Eventually, Robin found a design he was happy with and downloaded the file to his scroll. Picking the device up, he got back to work on his weapon. He started off with remaking the connectors, then moved on to connecting the sections and making sure they could still change to and maintain their desired forms, after which, Robin made the new mechanism for the handle and implemented it, then fixed the pommel and pole into the handle and mechanism.

The brunette looked over his work, he was content with it so far. But then again, he still had to attach the blade and test the weapon to make sure everything worked like it was supposed to. Robin took his time with attaching the blade, this was probably the easiest part to mess up and the most costly if he did.

After slowly attaching the blade, Robin picked up the new Senbonzakura and looked it over. He was okay with the new weight of the weapon, it wasn't much heavier than usual, but he felt like it needed a new look. The handle was already different, instead of being black metal with a red same covering it, it was now black metal with brass diamonds on it. It felt a bit weird to hold, but the test run later would help him get over that. The pommel was still the same since he had reused it, he brushed his thumb over it and looked at his insignia.

A gear in the middle with three smaller gears inside of it and half a gear on each side, the whole thing was supposed to be reminiscent of a bird spreading its wings. Robin remembered that he had a few other possessions with his insignia on them, though most of them were in his room back on Patch.

Deciding to get back to what he was doing, Robin grabbed a drop sheet, a dust mask and some work gloves. He put the mask and gloves on and spread the drop sheet on the ground, he placed Senbonzakura on the drop sheet and grabbed a brush, a can of primer, a tin of black paint and a tin of gold paint. Robin shook the can for a couple of minutes before spraying the primer on the blade, he put an even amount of layers on both sides and put the can to the side when he was done. Then Robin opened up the tin of black paint, he dipped the brush in the paint and began to coat the blade. After doing two coats of black paint, Robin repeated the majority of the process with the gold paint. Although, instead of painting the whole blade in gold, he opted to paint an ornamental design on the lower half of the blade. This way he would also have an elegant design on the top half of each section of his scythe blade. If other people could aesthetically pleasing yet practical weapons, then so could Robin.

Once the paint had dried, Robin tidied everything up. Once he was done, he slid Senbonzakura into its scabbard and hooked the scabbard to his belt.

"Finally done." Robin groaned as he stretched his back, only feeling content after a few clicks and a pop. The brunette left the workshop and looked up at the sky, it was dark. After staring at the shattered moon for a while, Robin began to head back to his room.

* * *

As Robin turned the corner, he spotted four individuals. One was Ruby, but the others were a mystery to him.

"We're from Haven. We're here for the Vytal Festival." The, presumably, leader of the three explained.

"In that case, I'll have to ask you to follow me." Robin piped up, he wasn't sure why, but he didn't want these three getting close to Ruby or her friends. "The students from other schools have their own dorms." The brunette added.

"We must have gotten turned around." The silver haired teen speculated, Robin didn't trust the smirk on the kids face. In fact, he didn't trust the look of any of the team, especially the leader. Sadly, he couldn't properly explain why, it was just a gut feeling at the moment.

"Whatever happened, if you'll follow me, I'll show you to your dorm." Robin ordered as he motioned for the three to follow him.

* * *

The walk to the dorms assigned to students from other schools was a long and quiet one, no one said a word as Robin showed the three students to where they would be staying. Once they reached the building, the students excused themselves and headed up the stairs. Robin started to head back to the regular dorms, but stopped by the statue of two Huntsmen standing on a cliff above a Beowolf. The young man stared up at the statue. He stared at the two Huntsmen for a little while, but soon shifted his attention to the Beowolf. Robin couldn't tell why, but he felt a surge of emotion when he looked at it. He felt anger, sadness, apathy and happiness all at once. The rush of emotion was enough to give him an excruciatingly painful headache, he collapsed to his knees and clutched his head. Letting out a scream of pain, Robin slammed his head into the ground. He stayed still like this for a while until another surge of emotion caused him to collapse onto his side, he let out another scream of pain. The brunette laid there for what felt like an eternity.

"Stop... it..." He panted. "Please you three, I can't... deal with this much... at once." Robin pleaded to his teammates. He knew they were there, they had been since last night. He could tell because he had used Nettle's and Tear's semblances.

Nettle's Tracker Vision semblance, last night Robin knew it had activated since he could see the footprints that had been left on the ground earlier in the day clearly. The only drawback being the fact that there was no way to tell how recent any tracks or imprints were. Then there was Tear's semblance, Healing Touch. It could purge impurities in the body and close wounds, that was it, it couldn't work miracles and cure diseases or bring back lost limbs.

"Wait... that means." Robin struggled to speak as he focused on a shadowy area of the courtyard, he teleported over to it. "Yep... all three."

Dusk's semblance, Shadow Travel. The user could meld into any shadow as long as they could see it, the problem being that it was taxing on the user's stamina.

Robin repeatedly used Shadow Travel to get back to his room. He staggered to his feet and scanned his scroll, the door opened and Robin rushed to his bed. He collapsed a few seconds later.

* * *

When Robin woke up, he found himself drenched in sweat. He got up and took a longer shower than usual, spending most of it thinking about what had happened the night before. He had had to deal with a few months worth of emotions all at once and none of them had been his own. It seemed that having his team with him in literal spirit meant that he had to deal with their emotions on top of his own. Robin finished his shower and got dressed, opting to go with a different look than normal.

Instead of his white dress shirt and black blazer, the brunette wore a crimson red t-shirt with a brown leather bomber jacket. In place of his dark blue jeans, he light blue ones. And instead of his black and white high-tops, the young man wore brown combat boots.

After getting dressed, Robin decided to pay his cousins and their team a visit. He had only talked with them once since he got back and it hadn't been a proper conversation as far as he was concerned. Knocking on team RWBY's door, the young man didn't have to wait long for it to open. Seeing a familiar pair of silver eyes, Robin smiled.

"Hey Rubes." He greeted.

"Robin! What are you doing here?" Ruby asked, a shocked and nervous expression crossing her features.

"What? I can't visit my cousins and their friends?" Robin answered with a laugh, only now noticing that Ruby was wearing a different outfit than usual. "You going out somewhere?" The young man inquired.

"Uh... Well..." Ruby stuttered and Robin could tell something was up.

"Ruby." The red eyed man stated firmly, his cousin looked at him in surprise due to change in his tone. "You're not hiding anything from me, right?" Ruby shrunk under his gaze, failing to find a response.

"Ruby, just let him in." Yang sighed as she opened the door fully, Robin noticed that everyone on the team was wearing a different outfit than usual.

"What's going on?" The brunette asked as he entered the room, Ruby closed the door as she stepped in front of him.

"We're going after Torchwick." Yang answered with a smile. Robin sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"You're going after Torchwick." He repeated. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't tell Ozpin about this." The young man stated. No one answered as an uncomfortable silence passed. "Because I'll be considered an accomplice." Robin answered for them.

"What do you mean you'll be considered an accomplice?" Weiss questioned.

"I mean, I'm going to help you." Robin explained with a laugh.

"But this isn't your problem." Blake pointed out.

"Wrong!" The young man exclaimed. "As a Huntsman, it is my duty to keep the people of Remnant safe. Roman Torchwick is a criminal that endangers the people I'm sworn to protect. So actually, this is my problem." He explained with a triumphant smile.

"Okay. But what will you do?" Weiss asked. Robin pulled out his scroll and waved it about in his hand.

"I'm quite good at hacking if I do say so myself, I can root around and see if I can find anything Torchwick's done recently. That could help with giving us an idea of where he is or what he might be doing." The Huntsman theorised as he put his scroll back in his pocket, he got a few nods from the team. "Good. By the way, who's the monkey?" He asked as he pointed to a monkey Faunus that was hanging outside the window.

* * *

After being introduced to Sun and Neptune, Robin made his way to Vale with the others. Once they arrived, everyone split up and went off with their assigned partners. Robin, being a full-fledged Huntsman, was by himself, he made his way to the public library. Once there, Robin rented a booth and hooked his scroll up to the terminal. He began setting up all the necessary programs he would need and started working.

* * *

Nothing, Robin had found nothing in the hours he had been searching. He had found a few bits and pieces about missing Dust shipments, but none of it could be connected Torchwick. Deciding to try searching one more time, Robin finally found something of note. Two Atlesian Paladins had been stolen while they were being transported, the thieves were apparently members of the White Fang. Though it was reported that a human had been working with them.

"Oh no, please don't tell me..." Robin didn't finish his sentence, hoping that it wasn't true. He shut down the terminal and retrieved his scroll. Robin rushed out of the library and began to head down the street, then his scroll went off.

"Everyone! If you can hear me, we need back-" Blake began, but she was cut off as someone started yelling.

"They've got robot and they're big, really big!" Sun's voice yelled through the scroll.

"Shit." Robin grumbled as he closed his scroll and started running, he only managed to run a few blocks before seeing two Atlesian Paladins charging down the street and towards the highway. Robin ran after them and hitched a ride on top of a car.

The highway was complete and utter chaos thanks to the two Paladins charging down it. Robin hopped from car to car as they kept diverting to try and get away from the human controlled mechs, he spotted Yang and Neptune on Bumblebee. Neptune took a shot at one of the Paladins before his weapon transformed to a naginata and he jumped at the same Paladin he shot, his weapon got stuck in the Paladins armour and he held onto it for dear life. Robin took a chance and jumped from the car he was on onto Bumblebee, the motorcycle shook as he landed behind his cousin.

"Sorry about that, but I decided to catch a ride." The brunette apologised to the blonde.

"No worries." Yang called back as she accelerated.

Eventually, Weiss dropped down from one of the upper roads of the highway and created a large patch of ice. One of the Atlesian Paladins slipped on the ice and fell to the ground below, but the other jumped over the obstacle and turned around. Weiss and Blake followed after the first Paladin. Yang brought Bumblebee to a halt and looked down from where her teammates had jumped from.

"Go help them, I'll take care of this one." Robin ordered, Yang nodded and followed after her teammates. Robin shifted himself to the front of the motorcycle and started it up, he drove straight towards the Paladin in front of him and passed between its legs.

Robin kept driving along the highway, the Atlesian Paladin not too far behind him. Eventually, he managed to find a length of road that led down to where team RWBY and the other Paladin were. Once he reached the end of the road, he kept driving forward before eventually doing a U-turn and stopping. The red eyed Huntsman had a quick stare down with the Atlesian Paladin before revving Bumblebee's engine.

"Yang! I'll pay for any damages later!" He yelled as he drove straight towards the Paladin. He heard his cousin scream something at him, but couldn't make out exactly what she said.

As Robin drove closer and closer to the Atlesian paladin, he started to stand in a crouching position whilst drawing Senbonzakura. He jumped from the motorcycle and stabbed his katana into the Paladin, it got stuck and Robin found himself hanging in front of the cockpit. He waved at the pilot before swinging himself up onto the top of the mech and pulled Senbonzakura out, he stabbed into the mech a few times and jumped out of the way of a metal fist that was flying at him.

While in the air, Robin changed Senbonzakura into its scythe form. He reared the scythe back and looked at his target, the Paladin's right arm. Robin began his descent as the Paladin launched a salvo of rockets at him, the Huntsman smirked as he effortlessly cut through the hazards with a flurry of spins. Robin reared Senbonzakura back again as he got closer to the joint of the arm, he put all his might into the next swing.

The arm flew off and crashed to the ground.

Robin landed and made some distance between himself and the mech, he came to a halt and held his scythe at a downwards angle. He charged at the Paladin, aiming for its left leg this time. The brunette dodged the shots that were fired at him, keeping his eyes on the Paladin's leg. He slid underneath a punch and lunged at the left leg, Senbonzakura caught the joint and cleaved through it. Robin cheered, but gulped when he saw the same fist as before heading towards him. He used his scythe to guard himself and braced for impact, the fist collided with the scythe and sent Robin flying into a column. He peeled himself off of the column and fell to the ground, he pushed himself up using his scythe as a support. Robin glanced behind him and saw Yang activate her semblance, he decided to follow suit.

Robin changed Senbonzakura back into its sword form and returned it to its scabbard. Rolling his shoulder, Robin took a step forward. A small crater formed at the force behind the step. He smirked at the Paladins pilot and dashed for the severed arm, running faster than he normally could. Robin reached the arm and grabbed hold of it, he dragged it behind him and ran straight at the toppled Paladin again. The Huntsman raised the arm behind him and slammed it into the Atlesian Paladin with an over head swing, the Paladin and the arm shattered into hundreds of pieces. Robin saw someone eject themselves from the cockpit, he looked over at the pilot.

It was a girl. Her hair was pink and brown and the same could be said for her eyes, she was wearing a rather elegant looking outfit.

Robin drew Senbonzakura again and charged at the girl. He swung at her, but she shattered like a mirror as soon as the blade made contact with her. He looked around and saw the girl guarding Torchwick. Robin ran over to team RWBY as they approached the pair.

"Ladies, Ice Queen... Birdie." Roman started, addressing everyone present. "Always a pleasure. Neo, If you would." The man stated. The girl, Neo, took a bow. Yang charged forward and attempted to punch Neo, the girl and Roman shattered as soon as the blonde's fist made contact. The teens and young adult looked around for any kind of sign as to where the two had gone, then they heard a bullhead flying off. Looking in the sounds direction, they saw Roman and Neo standing in the bullhead before the doors closed and the carrier disappeared.

"Get back here Roman!" Robin shouted vehemently, refusing to look away from where the bullhead had been.

"Robin..." Ruby called, concern lacing her voice. Robin sheathed Senbonzakura and turned to face the team.

"Let's get back to Beacon." He stated, trying to avoid the subject he knew she was about to bring up.

"Torchwick called you Birdie, that was your old nickname. How does he know it?" Ruby asked, causing the others to look at him in surprise.

"Because he was the first person to use it." Robin admitted with a sigh. "Believe it or not, Torchwick used to be a student at Beacon. He left one year and never returned, then he started showing up in news reports as a criminal and... well you get it." The Huntsman halfheartedly explained.

"So that's why got involved with the investigation." Weiss realised. "You've seen what he can do before. You were trying to protect us, weren't you?" She asked.

"Yep. Girls, Torchwick is dangerous, more so than you realise. So please, give up on this investigation." Robin pleaded, a sincere and sad look in his eyes.

"That's not fair! We've come this far and you're just going to tell us to give up!" Blake yelled at Robin, the man simply averted his gaze.

"Blake..." Yang put her hand on her partners shoulder in attempt to get her to calm down.

"Please..." Robin pleaded again, his voice shaky this time. "Before you end up getting hurt." He added.

"Robin." Ruby said firmly, getting her cousin to look her in the eyes. "We are not going to give up." She stated, her conviction showing clearly from the look in her eyes.

"Fine." Robin conceded, he let out a long sigh and gave the girls a big smile. "Guess I'll have to help to make sure none of you get hurt." The team looked at him in surprise. "What? You think I'm gonna let my cousins and their friends risk themselves without supervision? I think not!" The man stated theatrically, getting thankful smiles from the girls. "Now come on, we need to get back to Beacon."

* * *

 **So, what did ya think? We got a brief look at Robin's semblance, and no it is not the same as Yang's, established a few things, and moved the plot along.**

 **I'll see you all in chapter 16.**


End file.
